Al-Qaeda Chief Osama tested chemical weapons on my dogs, claims son Omar

TIL Desk/World/London/ One of the sons of slain al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden has claimed that his father was training him to follow in his footsteps, making him fire guns as a child in Afghanistan and using his dogs to test chemical weapons. In an interview while on a visit to Qatar, Bin Laden’s fourth eldest son Omar claims he was a “victim” and has tried to forget the “bad times” with his father.

The 41-year-old, who now lives with wife Zaina in Normandy, France, recalls Bin Laden telling him that he was the son chosen to carry on his work. He, however, chose to leave Afghanistan in April 2001, just months before the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

“I said goodbye and he said goodbye. I’d had enough of that world. He wasn’t happy that I was leaving,” he tells the newspaper. “I saw it,” he says, with reference to chemical experiments conducted by his father’s henchman. “They tried it on my dogs and I wasn’t happy. I just try to forget all the bad times as much as I can. It’s very difficult. You suffer all the time,” he said.