More than 20 Osama bin Laden's relatives, including wives, children and grandchildren, live in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Qatar, the terrorist's son told the Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Omar, who lives in Qatar, told the paper in a phone conversation that he had not earlier known where his brothers and sisters live.
"Only a month ago, [Omar] first learned the whereabouts of some of his relatives," the paper said.
Omar, 29, said five children of the "world's most wanted" terrorist live in Saudi Arabia. Three of Osama's relatives, including his first Syrian-born wife, Najwa, and their two children, live in Syria.
Another bin Laden wife, Hairija, and her five children have fled Afghanistan to Iran and "live in Tehran under house arrest," Omar said, adding the Iranian authorities show "good attitude" to them and provide them with "all necessary things." Bin Laben's 17-year-old daughter, Iman, reportedly lives in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran.
Osama bin Laden's 11 grandchildren born in Afghanistan and Iran together with their parents (Osama's children) have fled Afghanistan and live somewhere other than in Saudi Arabia, he said, adding he "has never seen any of them."
Washington holds bin Laden responsible for masterminding the September 11 terrorist acts in the United States, which claimed some 3,000 lives. The terrorist disappeared after Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which had granted him asylum, collapsed under U.S. air strikes in late 2001. Since then, bin Laden's location has been unknown.
Some analysts believe the terrorist could be in hiding in Pakistan. However, the country's Prime Minster Yusuf Raza Gilani recently dismissed the allegations.
ABU-DHABI, December 23 (RIA Novosti)
