Osama & the Al Qaeda: The Reign of Terror/Photos
Osama Bin Laden came to the world's attention on 11 September 2001, when the attacks on the World Trade Centre in the United States left more than 3,000 people dead and hundreds more injured. The man may have become a household name on that day but his organisation the Al Qaeda has terrorised millions and murdered hundreds under Osama's guidance for over two long decades.
With 9/11 osama bin Laden emerged from obscurity to become one of the most hated and feared men in the world
The Al Qaeda has orchestrated numerous attacks with the backing of a number of smaller terror outfits. These include the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya & Tanzania, the 7/7 London train blasts and the deadly 2009 Mumbai terror strikes.
A quick look at the havoc Osama bin Laden wrecked upon the world earning him the title of 'The World's Most Wanted Terrorist'.
26 February 1993 - Six people are killed and more than 1000 injured by a 500kg bomb planted in the car park of the World Trade Center in New York.
Al-Qaeda's involvement is unclear, but some analysts believe that after the attack the group sought out the plotter Ramzi Yousef and offered him money. Yousef is serving a life sentence for the attack. His uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, currently in US custody, is thought to have helped plan the 11 September attacks.
25 June 1996 - A bomb rips through a US military housing complex near Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans.
The US believes al-Qaeda may have been involved in this attack on the Khobar Towers, which has also been blamed on the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah.
7 August 1998 - More than 220 people are killed when lorries laden with bombs drove into the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
11 September 2001 - Nineteen suspected al-Qaeda members hijack four planes and fly them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania. The worst ever attacks on US soil kill about 3000 people.
Six weeks later the US launches attacks on Afghanistan, from where Bin Laden has been operating under the protection of the ruling Taleban. After the war, hundreds of suspected al-Qaeda fighters are sent to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many are still detained.
12 October 2002 - Two bombs rip through a busy nightclub area in the Balinese town of Kuta, killing 202 people most of them foreign tourists.
The Indonesian authorities believe the attacks were carried out by the South East Asian militant network, Jemaah Islamiah, which is said to have links to al-Qaeda.
11 March 2004 - Ten bombs explode on four packed early-morning commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and leaving at least 1800 injured.
Spanish officials later say their investigations are focusing on the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group which is said to support al-Qaeda's war against the West.
7 July 2005 - Fifty-two people die and 700 are injured as bombs explode on three underground trains and one bus in central London. Analysts say the attacks bear the hallmarks of groups linked to or at least inspired by al-Qaeda.
27 December 2007 - Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is killed in a suicide attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi along with more than 150 others.
Pakistan's government later says it has intelligence that suspected al-Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud was responsible. Ms Bhutto had survived a similar attack in Karachi on 18 October that left more than 150 others dead.
26 November 2009 - The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai by terrorists trained by the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit in Pakistan. The seige lasted 60 hours and left 164 dead and over 300 injured.
Time and again, the LeT's links to the Al Qaeda in ideology and execution of terror strikes have cropped up.
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