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Osama bin Laden's hand-written will reveals he left $40 million fortune to jihad instead of family

Hand-written documents written by Osama bin Laden reveal the al-Qaeda leader left strict instructions regarding a $40 million fortune he left to jihad.

The documents were seized in the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideout, with one letter urging his family to "obey my will" and to spend his inheritance on "jihad, for the sake of Allah".

The terrorist urged his father to take care of his wife and children in the event of his death in another letter.

Hand-written documents written by Osama bin Laden reveal the al-Qaeda leader left instructions regarding a $40 million fortune.
Hand-written documents written by Osama bin Laden reveal the al-Qaeda leader left instructions regarding a $40 million fortune.

"If I am to be killed, pray for me a lot and give continuous charities in my name, as I will be in great need for support to reach the permanent home," he wrote.

The cache of 113 documents, translated and declassified by US intelligence agencies, are mostly dated between 2009 and 2011, intelligence officials said.

The documents are the second tranche from the raid to have been declassified since May 2015.

They depict an al Qaeda that was unwavering in its commitment to global jihad, but with its core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan under pressure on multiple fronts.

The trove also features letters the terrorist penned to his wife, brother, mother and the 'Islamic Nation at large'.

In one document, bin Laden issues instructions to al Qaeda members holding an Afghan hostage to be wary of possible tracking technology attached to the ransom payment.

"It is important to get rid of the suitcase in which the funds are delivered, due to the possibility of it having a tracking chip in it," bin Laden states in a letter to an aide identified only as "Shaykh Mahmud."

Osama bin Laden. Photo: AAP
Osama bin Laden. Photo: AAP

In an apparent reference to armed U.S. drones patrolling the skies, bin Laden says his negotiators should not leave their rented house in the Pakistani city of Peshawar "except on a cloudy overcast day."

While the document is undated, the hostage, Afghan diplomat Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was held from September 2008 to late 2010.

Another, fragmentary document acknowledges that al Qaeda executed four would-be volunteers on suspicion of spying, only to discover they were probably innocent, according to senior US. intelligence officials authorized to discuss the materials in advance of their public release.

"I did not mention this to justify what has happened," wrote the undated letter's unidentified author, adding, "we are in an intelligence battle and humans are humans and no one is infallible."

A translated excerpt from bin Laden's letter to his wife. Photo: Office of the Director of National Intelligence
A translated excerpt from bin Laden's letter to his wife. Photo: Office of the Director of National Intelligence

In a May 11, 2010 letter to his then second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al Rahman, bin Laden urged caution in arranging an interview with al Jazeera journalist Ahmad Zaidan, asserting that the United States could be tracking his movements through devices implanted in his equipment, or by satellite.

"You must keep in mind the possibility, however, slight, that journalists can be under surveillance that neither we nor they can perceive, either on the ground or via satellite," he wrote.

In a undated letter "To the American people," the al Qaeda chief chides Obama for failing to end the war in Afghanistan; and accurately predicts that the US president's plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will fail.

Osama bin Laden 's hide out.
Osama bin Laden 's hide out.

On April 28, 2011, just four days before his death, bin Laden was editing a document he had written on the Arab Spring revolutions.

The documents show the strains of managing al Qaeda's external networks, including identifying capable leaders and finding resources to fund operations abroad.

One associate, who signed his 2009 note simply as "Your beloved "Atiyah," acknowledged troubles replacing an ineffective leader for external operations, saying some of the best candidates were dead.

"There are new brothers, perhaps some would be suitable in the future, but not now," he wrote.

Osama bin Laden. Photo: Supplied
Osama bin Laden. Photo: Supplied

In another, bin Laden, writing under the pseudonym Abu Abdallah, expresses alarm over his wife's visit to a dentist while in Iran, worrying that a tracking chip could have been implanted with her dental filling.

"The size of the chip is about the length of a grain of wheat and the width of a fine piece of vermicelli," he wrote.

The letter ended with this instruction: "Please destroy this letter after reading it."