Osama bin Laden is a prominent Islamist leader, head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Although he is wanted by numerous countries around the world, he is relatively unknown to the public. Born in Saudi Arabia he fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets during the 1980s, in 1990 he returned to Saudi Arabia lauded as a hero of the Afghan jihad but soon fell out with the Saudi government over it's close relationship with the infidel US. In 1992 he was expelled from Saudi Arabia and took up residence in Sudan where he was granted asylum by Hassan Turabi's Islamist government. In 1996, under pressure from the US, Egypt and Saudi Arabia Sudan expelled bin Laden. Although he was offered asylum in Eritrea, bin Laden decided to accept an invitation from the Taliban movement in Afghanistan to fig