Bin Laden's primary organization, which reportedly has 4,000 to 5,000 hard-core militants, operates full-time in Saudi Arabia (which stripped him of his citizenship), Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The official hub of the bin Laden organization has been identified as a group called Al Qaeda. Bin Laden also founded the International Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders, which published the Feb. 23, 1998 fatwa (religious rulings) that calls for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.
It has been reported that bin Laden has offered $10,000 to any person in his organization that kills an American.
Bin Laden has also been directly or indirectly linked to the following organizations:
Taliban The Students
This Islamic fundamentalist group numbers over 30,000 members and used to control three-quarters of Afghanistan. It was removed from power by a coalition of American troops and Northern Alliance forces in the military action that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Jihad Group Gamaa Islamiya
An Islamic group active since the 1970s, it's divided into two separate factions. The remnants of the original faction is led by Abbub al-Zumar; he is currently in jail in Egypt.
Al-Jihad Holy War
The newer movement calls itself the Vanguards of Conquest or Talaa’al as-Fateh; it is reportedly led by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who has been identified as a close advisor and doctor to bin Laden. The Jihad Group is looking to establish an Islamic State and replace Egyptian president Hosni Murbarak.
The Jihad Group is also linked to Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (GAI or GI), another Egyptian group that was involved in the Luxor attack in November 1997.
Islamic Jihad Islamic Holy War
Best known for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, this group's leader has also been identified as Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Ayman Al-Zawahiri is one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists and has been indicted for his alleged role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya.
Harakut ul-Ansar Movement of Friends
Based in Pakistan, this group reportedly regularly attacks Indian troops in the Kasmir border region. The State Department has linked this group with the kidnapping of five Western tourists in Kasmir in 1995, all of whom are now presumed dead.
Nations That Have Supported Usama Bin Laden
Sudan
Usama bin Laden has the backing of the speaker Hassan al-Turabi, who essentially ruled the country until 2001 as leader of the National Islamic Front or later as speaker of the assembly. Al-Turabi is reportedly the ideological power behind the NIF and is the mastermind in a regime that is considered by many as a terrorist octopus which threatens the stability of the whole of Africa.
Yemen
According to Western intelligence and Arab diplomatic sources, Usama bin Laden has gained a foothold here.
Miscellaneous Affiliations
Officials say there are several small extremists groups associated with bin Laden in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Yemen. He was connected with a radical group in Jordan, known as Jaysh Muhammad’s Army. The group was involved with the bombing of two movie theaters in 1994.
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