Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden outlined in letters and other documents how at least $29 million of his funds and possessions should be apportioned after his death, requesting that most of it be used to continue global jihad.
One of the letters — part of a cache of 113 documents taken in the 2011 U.S. special forces raid that killed bin Laden — was described by U.S. intelligence officials as what they believed was a last will. Reuters and ABC Television were given exclusive access to the documents, which were translated from Arabic and declassified by U.S. intelligence agencies.
They were part of a second tranche of documents which were seized in the operation and have been declassified since May 2015. A large number have yet to be released.
One document, a hand-written note that U.S. intelligence officials believe the Saudi militant composed in the late 1990s, laid out how he wanted to distribute about $29 million he had in Sudan. Bin Laden urged his close relatives to use the rest of the funds to support holy war. He set down specific amounts in Saudi riyals and gold that should be apportioned between his mother, a son, a daughter, an uncle, and his uncle's children and maternal aunts.
