16 Jan 2010

What bin Laden might look like now: new pictures

4:01 pm on 16 January 2010

The US State Department has updated its file photograph of the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, digitally altering it to account for a decade of age and possible changes in facial hair.

Two new enhanced photographs on the American Rewards for Justice website show a silver-haired bin Laden at 52, both with and without a full beard and turban.

Bin Laden, who founded al Qaeda, is top of the US most-wanted list.

He is accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in East Africa and the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

He is still thought to be hiding in the mountainous region along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.