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Bin Laden told mother to expect "big news"

WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Two days before the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York, Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden told his mother to expect "big news" NBC News reported on Tuesday.

Bin Laden contacted his adoptive mother, Al Kalifa bin Laden, on Sept. 9, telling her: "In two days you're going to hear big news, and you're not going to hear from me for a while," NBC's Web site reported, citing undisclosed sources.

Bin Laden is believed by Washington to be the mastermind behind the hijacked plane attacks on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center. Two commercial jetliners slammed into the Trade Center towers, another plowed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, leaving nearly 6,000 dead or missing and presumed dead.

The world's most wanted man, bin Laden is estranged from his family, but NBC quoted sources as saying that he has maintained contact with Al Kalifa bin Laden, one of his father's four wives.

NBC said bin Laden, 44, is believed to be the only son of a woman from Syria or Palestine. But he was raised by Al Kalifa bin Laden, one of Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden's four wives.

The report did not indicate where she was when bin Laden made contact prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. She was previously reported to have checked into a Paris hospital the day after the attacks, the report said.

President George W. Bush has demanded that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement deliver to U.S. authorities bin Laden and all the leaders of his AL Qaeda network hiding there.

 


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