Osama Bin Laden is alive and well, reveals former aide

London, Jan. 24 (ANI): Osama Bin Laden is alive and well, and is not surviving on medicines or dead as speculated by western media, a former aide of the Al Qaeda chief has revealed.

After 9/11, Sheikh Rashad Mohammed Saeed Ismael alias Abu al-Fida was arrested in Yemen and detained for two years. His brother Sadeq, 25, was seized in Pakistan and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. A brother-in-law and a cousin remain there to this day.

"Bin Laden is alive and well. He is a man who doesn't take chemicals in the form of pills and medication. He uses herbs and natural resources, and he eats healthy food and is very careful about his health," The Times quoted Fida, as saying.

He added that most of Osama's wives and his estimated 23 children are reported to have scattered. One moved to Syria, one is in Iran and two others are in his native Saudi Arabia.

Osama's youngest wife Amal, according to Fida, had never returned to Yemen, contrary to some reports.

"I am her family's spiritual guardian and know every detail of their lives, and I can assure you she has not been back," he said.

Fida, who fixed Osama with Yemeni-origin Amal, revealed that Osama' fifth wife delivered a baby girl in Kandahar, within days of the 9/11 attack.

He is convinced that she is with Osama, or is visited by him, and says they have probably had more children.

For her family, however, there is no news and the strain is hard to bear. (ANI)