CIA releases files on Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, including 228-page personal diary handwritten in Arabic

Documents were released to help people gain insights into workings of terrorist organisations

WASHINGTON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Wednesday released a massive amount of material on slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, including a 228-page personal journal handwritten in Arabic.

The files were seized during the May 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden`s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he lived with his wife and children along with two couriers and their families. 

The release, containing nearly 470,000 items totaling 321 gigabytes of data, includes personal photographs of the family and insight into the Al Qaeda`s global leadership. 

There's also footage of bin Laden rehearsing speeches and what the CIA describes as Al Qaeda "home movies" of bin Laden`s son Hamza. 

Nearly 18,000 document files, 79,000 audio and image files and more than 10,000 videos were released by the agency.

The documents have been released to help people understand and gain insights into the plans and workings of terrorist organizations, said CIA Director Michael Pompeo.

The mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, bin Laden evaded authorities for a decade. He was killed on May 2, 2011, by US Navy SEALs. 

Bin Laden narrowly escaped from Afghanistan over the border into Pakistan as US and allied Afghan forces pursued him in the mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001. 

The CIA`s release of files and documents comes after three previous releases of material by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence over the course of the last three years.

The files also include Hollywood films, cartoons and documentaries. "Antz". "Cars", "The Three Musketeers" and "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?" were among the movies found on devices at the compound. 

Wednesday`s release comes less than a week after President Donald Trump decided to release some but not all files pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, reports CNN. 

A 1992 law mandated all files had to come out by last Thursday, unless the President waived some from release.

Trump went on to pledge to release all files "other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living".

With agency inputs