Robert O'Neill discusses the moment he shot and killed Osama Bin Laden
In early September, 2001, Osama bin Laden's family lived a quiet life in one of the terror leader's large houses in Afghanistan - his sons played Nintendo games, his four wives listened to Madonna on the radio and cooked western food.
But on the night of September 10, they were ordered to move - headed on a three day journey from Kandahar to Jalalabad while an event they knew only as the "Plane Operation" was carried out.
For the next nine years three of bin Laden's wives and their children fled across the Middle East as the world changed forever around them - even if at first they did not know why - eventually ending up in detention in Iran.
That journey has now been documented in a new book, seen by the Guardian.
It tells of how Najwa, bin Laden's first wife, left for Saudi Arabia shortly before the 9/11 terror attack was carried out, no longer able to submit to the austere religious life he was carving out for her.
She left after her son, Omar, also fled - having fallen out with his father over his path into violent jihad, the Daily Mail reported.
They proved to be fortunate. After being taken to Jalalabad, the remaining wives and their offspring were forced to live in the barracks of an Al Qaeda training camp.
They hung rugs on the walls to keep insulated, were forced to stuff old mattresses with clothes to sleep on, and huddled around a pile of grenades and rifles at night.
If the group were attacked, the wives - Khairiah, Seham and Amal - had been instructed to martyr themselves using suicide vests.
In November 2001, relief seemed to come when bin Laden paid the group a brief visit, but it was only to instruct them to move to Pakistan, as the US was closing in.
But even there the family could not be safe so they were transported again, this time to arch-nemesis Iran, in the hope that the Shia regime would refuse to hand them over to America.
That risk almost backfired, as Tehran attempted to organise a trade with the Bush administration in 2002 - bin Laden's family for reduced sanctions and diplomatic recognition - but the administration declined.
In 2001 Osama bin Laden's family were living a peaceful life in Afghanistan, unaware that an event they knew only as the 'Plane Operation' was about to change all of that. Photo / Getty
Iran had no great love for the bin Laden clan, linked as they were with Sunni extremists, but also recognised that they were too valuable to release.
For the next eight years, the wives and their children languished in detention in Tehran, their location unknown even to other family members who believed they were dead.
They were periodically moved around as their presence caused unrest and riots among other inmates.
To keep them happy, Iranian guards bribed them with ice cream and luxury meals. They were taken for day trips to landmarks in Tehran where the family - some of the most wanted people in the world - mingled with American tourists.
On trips to a local swimming baths, they did laps in lanes next to diplomats.
Osama Bin Laden with one of his sons in 2001. Photo / Getty
One of Osama's sons, Saad, managed to escape in 2008 - vowing to find his father in Pakistan and have the family rescued - but he was killed in a drone strike in 2009.
Undeterred, daughter Iman hatched another escape plan which she carried out during a shopping trip in 2009, swapping her clothes and swaddling a baby doll before fleeing to the Saudi embassy.
From there she made contact with other family members who eventually negotiated the release of those being held in Tehran. Iman spent 100 days in the embassy before being allowed to go to her mother, Najwa, in Syria.
Osama's other wives all made their way to Pakistan where he was holed up in the compound where he would be killed in 2011.
Khairiah, Seham and Amal are believed to have been present as he was shot, with Amal throwing herself in front of bin Laden as Navy SEALs opened fire.
Khalid, Osama's son by Seham, was also killed in the raid - shot in the head when special forces called out to him in Urdu and he looked out into the stairwell to see what was happening.
Hamzah, bin Laden's only child with Khairiah, survived the raid and is now attempting to claim his father's position at the head of Al Qaeda, being designated a 'global terrorist' by the US earlier this year.
