Osama bin Laden: his life in pictures

1971: Osama bin Laden (second from right) on a visit to Falun, Sweden. That year 23 members of the wealthy Bin Laden family visited Falun while one of the elder brothers conducted business with Volvo. Osama is remembered from the occasion as a quiet and reserved boy who at 16 didn't really stand out from the crowd Photograph: Scanpix/Camera Press

1985: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1988: Osama bin Laden in a cave in the Jalalabad region of Afghanistan Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

1989: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan during the war with Russia Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1989: Osama Bin Laden walks with Afghans in the Jalalabad area Photograph: -/EPA

1998: Osama bin Laden sits behind a map of Afghanistan in an undisclosed part of the country Photograph: AP

1998: Osama bin Laden at a meeting with reporters in the mountains of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. By this time he was a suspect in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa Photograph: Rahimullah Yousafzai/AP

1998: Osama bin Laden at a press conference with Ayman al-Zawahiri in Khost, Afghanistan Photograph: Mazhar Ali Khan/AP

1999: Poster of Osama bin Laden sold in Rawalpindi, Pakistan Photograph: B.k.bangash/AP

1999: An Osama bin Laden wanted poster at a US justice department press conference in New York Photograph: Doug Kanter/EPA

2000: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

January 2001: Osama bin Laden at the wedding of his son in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar Photograph: Al-Jazeera/TV/AP

2001: Osama bin Laden, at an undisclosed location, having been named the prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Behind him is top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Jazeera said the scene was believed to record a celebration of the union of Bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Zawahiri's Egyptian Jihad group Photograph: Al-Jazeera via APTN/AP

2001: Osama bin Laden records a video at an undisclosed location Photograph: AP

2002: A boy holds an Osama bin Laden poster at an Islamist political rally in Quetta, Pakistan Photograph: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images

2003: Osama bin Laden in a video aired by al-Jazeera on the second anniversary of 9/11 Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

2005: A Pakistani boy holds an Osama bin Laden poster at a rally to show solidarity with Kashmiris fighting against Indian troops Photograph: K. M. Chaudary/AP

2006: A video produced by al-Qaida linked media group as-Sahab and broadcast on al-Jazeera shows Osama bin Laden at an undisclosed time and place in Afghanistan Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

7 September 2007: A new video claimed to show Osama bin Laden Photograph: Reuters TV/Reuters

2 May 2011: The Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden has been killed by American forces Photograph: Iftikhar Tanoli/EPA