What the hell ever happened to Osama bin Laden's 4 wives and 24 children?

[NNN0LHI]

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/03/12/gen.binladen.wives/

Wives, mother may hold key to bin Laden's whereabouts

March 12, 2002 Posted: 10:55 AM EST (1555 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and allied intelligence services are closely monitoring the women in Osama bin Laden's life for clues on his health and whereabouts.

Officials said his mother, Hamida al-Attas, lives quietly in Saudi Arabia. She has not been asked for a DNA sample to help the effort to determine whether her son is alive, but the Saudis may soon ask her to do so, an official said.

Bin Laden's mother -- sometimes called Alia -- got married after the death of his father, Mohammed bin Laden. The accused terrorist mastermind has been quoted in news reports as telling a friend that his mother and father were not married -- that it was "not a Koranic union."

Osama bin Laden has four wives, according to U.S. officials, and at least 24 children.