Bin Laden kept $29m for jihad

BY Taiwo George

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Osama Bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda sect, left a wealth estimated at $29m for Jihad, according to his hand written will, which the US authorities made available to the media on Tuesday.

The will was seized during the US assault in Pakistan in 2011.

Written in Arabic, the signed document states that majority of his wealth, which had come from his brother, is in Sudan.

“I received twelve million dollars from my brother Abu Bakir Muhammad Bin (Laden) on behalf of Bin Laden Company for Investment in Sudan,” he wrote, according to the ODNI’s translation of the document.

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“I hope, for my brothers, sisters, and maternal aunts, to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on jihad, for the sake of Allah.”

In another letter, he urged his father to take care of his wife and children in the event of his death.

That message made it clear that the risk of being killed was present in his mind.

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“If I am to be killed, pray for me a lot and give continuous charities in my name, as I will be in great need for support to reach the permanent home,” he wrote.

He lived in Sudan for five years in the 1990s as a guest of the Sudanese government.

In other letters, he gave his assessment of the progress of the West’s “war on terror” and the US military campaign in Afghanistan.

“They thought that the war would be easy and that they would accomplish their objectives in a few days or a few weeks,” he wrote.

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“We need to be patient a bit longer. With patience, there is victory!”

After US special forces killed Bin Laden in 2011, Ayman al-Zawahiri, his second-in-command, took over the leadership of the sect.

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