Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has reportedly given an hour-long account of the life of Osama bin Laden, revealing that the terrorist mastermind was blind in one eye and was a Muslim Brotherhood member once.
In the video, the third in a series entitled "Days with the Imam," Zawahiri narrates stories about bin Laden who was killed in a raid by US Navy Seals in May 2011 at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, The Telegraph reports.
In the video, Zawahiri revealed that "for those who do not know" , the Saudi-born bin Laden was left blind in the right eye after an accident in his youth.
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Osama bin Laden (File pic)
He also said bin Laden was a former member of the Saudi branch of the Muslim Brotherhood before being evicted for insisting on jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the paper said.
Zawahiri said that Bin Laden had traveled to Pakistan to deliver money to the jihadists in Peshawar but apparently defied orders from the Brotherhood, following which he joined the armed struggle.
It is for the first time such claims have surfaced where bin Laden’s links to the Brotherhood have been articulated by a member of his inner circle.
Zawahiri's latest video, in which he is dressed in a white cloak and turban, was posted on a jihadist forum, and appeared to be around two months old as he offered greetings to Muslims for the start of the fasting month of Ramadan which ended on August 20.
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