1957 Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden is born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
1979 Soviet forces invade Afghanistan. Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia to join the Afghan resistance (mujahedeen).
1986-89 According to Islamic sources, bin Laden participates in numerous battles during the Afghan war against the Soviets as a guerrilla commander.
1988 Bin Laden establishes al-Qaida, an organization of ex-mujahedeen and other supporters. Its mission is to channel fighters and money to the Afghan resistance.
1989 After Soviet forces pull out of Afghanistan, bin Laden returns to Saudi Arabia a hero. He becomes involved in opposition movements to the Saudi monarchy while working for his family’s construction firm.Dec. 29, 1992 A bomb explodes in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, killing two Austrian tourists. U.S. intelligence agencies allege that this is the first terrorist attack involving bin Laden and his associates.
Feb. 26, 1993 A truck bomb is detonated at the World Trade Center. It kills six and injures about 1,000.
February/March 1995 Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, is captured in Pakistan and extradited to the United States. A search of his former residences leads investigators to believe he is financially linked to bin Laden.
August 1996 Bin Laden signs and issues a Declaration of Jihad outlining his organization’s goals: drive U.S. forces from the Arabian Peninsula, overthrow the government of Saudi Arabia, liberate Muslim holy sites, and support Islamic revolutionary groups around the world.
1997-98 Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the World Trade Center bombing and is sentenced to life in prison.
Aug. 7, 1998 Two simultaneous explosions rock U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bomb in Nairobi kills 213 people and injures more than 4,500. The bomb in Dar es Salaam kills 11 and injures 85.
Oct. 12, 2000 The Norfolk-based destroyer Cole is attacked while refueling in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
Sept. 11, 2001 Four U.S. commercial planes are hijacked and crashed into both towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and a rural area of central Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people are killed, and thousands are injured.
Oct. 7, 2001 The United States and Britain begin what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls Operation Enduring Freedom with several days of airstrikes against Taliban government installations and al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.
October 2004 Bin Laden says for the first time that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks.
May 1, 2011 President Barack Obama speaks to the nation and announces the death of bin Laden, saying he was killed in a CIA operation in Pakistan.