FBI photographs show an ageing Osama bin Laden - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

New photographs released by FBI forensic artists show Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden aging a little since he was last seen in September 2007, but has put on little or no weight in the parched surroundings of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Even as the unyielding search to find Laden continues, his digitally enhanced photographs have been released showing how he might look today: one in his traditional outfit, the other showing him with trimmed beard and Western clothing, The Times reports. The ”age-progression images” were produced in the latest effort to find the elusive al-Qaeda leader. “It is our hope that these digitally enhanced images will help someone recognise these terrorist suspects and then contact the Rewards for Justice program with information that leads to their apprehension,” Robert Eckert, assistant director for Diplomatic Security’s Threat Information and Analysis Directorate, said. In 2007, a 30-minute video released by al Qaeda showed laden sporting a trimmed beard rather than the straggly and seemingly unkempt appearance he seemed to be wearing in 2004. He wore the same white turban and traditional white long-sleeved Sunni shirt that extends below the knees. In the video, which surfaced after his absence for three years, Laden said the US had given President Bush "a clear mandate from you... to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan " following his reelection for a second term. He added that events in Iraq were "out of control".