The flow of radicals through al Qaeda training camps has spawned terrorist cells in more than 60 countries including Canada.

Osama bin Laden has created a mobile paradigm that stretches beyond the borders of a single nation and traditional warfare. The source of origin for al Qaeda militants is not a country but allegiance to a jihad against the West.

Within days of the September 11 attacks, the lethal sophistication of the suicide hijackings led investigators to bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.

Bin Laden's attacks against the West began with the bombing of U.S. troops in his ancestral home of Yemen in 1992. The war in Afghanistan was almost a decade away when American Black Hawk helicopters swooped into the dark heart of Mogadishu in October 1993.

The planned snatch-and-grab operation turned into a firefight pitting U.S. elite forces against fighters said to be backed by bin Laden. The battle left 18 American soldiers and at least 500 Somalis dead.

Long after the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, U.S. authorities learned that bin Laden had issued a decree exhorting Somalis to drive American forces out of their country.

A U.S. federal indictment charged that bin Laden and members of al Qaeda were behind the Mogadishu attack and the1998 twin bombing of American embassies in East Africa. Prosecutors read from a fatwa he issued during the embassy bombing trial.

"Fast and light forces must be used and must operate in absolute secrecy. All efforts must be directed at this enemy, kill it, fight it, destroy it, break it down, plot against it, ambush it, and Allah willing, it will be gone," bin Laden said, as he calls on Muslims to join the jihad against the United States in the fatwa.

Many of bin Laden's men had fought alongside him during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He would later say the conflict taught him that a lightly armed force could defeat a superpower and the experience launched his Pan-Islamic war against the West.

In more recent years, bin Laden began to actively recruit middle-class, educated and well-travelled young men to al Qaeda. Performance and commitment are tested through a series of assignments administered over a period of time. Intelligence and religious zeal are valued.

"It's like the privatization of terror. He recruits from everywhere so he can tap into the vast reservoir of people to strike at his enemy," terrorism analyst Magnus Ranstorp from St. Andrews University in Scotland said following last year's attacks.

In hot pursuit

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton gave the CIA approval to hunt down bin Laden following the 1998 embassy bombings. He has called the world's most wanted man a tough adversary and warns he shouldn't be underestimated.

"He's very scary. He's smart, he's rich, he's ruthless, he's bold...with a very definite political agenda," Clinton said in a speech at the Kennedy Center last October. U.S. President George Bush retained the CIA directive to hunt down bin Laden during his first month in office.

In his quest to track down bin Laden, Clinton sent 70 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Afghanistan based on intelligence that he would be at a training complex near Khost. Other missiles were sent into Sudan where it was reported bin Laden had experimented with chemical weapons.

"Make no mistake about it. This conflict represents a fundamental struggle that will go on for the next few years and will define the soul of the 21st century," Clinton said as the war on terror began.

The U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan quickly forced the Taliban from power and destroyed al Qaeda's 12 training camps. But bin Laden managed to evade capture and it's reported he fled an 11-day air attack in Tora Bora by riding horseback through a mountain pass into Pakistan.

The loyalty of his militants runs deep. During the bloody battle at Tora Bora, al Qaeda forces refused to surrender bin Laden. They have also shunned a $5-million US bounty that was first offered following the embassy bombings in Africa and increased to $25 million after Sept. 11.

Recent reports suggest bin Laden is living in eastern Afghanistan. He is likely tracking the events in the Middle East and Iraq with acute interest. His fatwahs show that he believes the West has fragmented the Islamic world and his ultimate goal is to unite all Muslims.

The Bush administration has repeatedly clashed with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and is edging towards war with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran have said they oppose an attack against Iraq.

Some analysts say that bin Laden views U.S. aggression as a means of provoking a war between Muslims and the West. So far, a clash between civilizations has yet to materialize and al Qaeda has been effectively neutralized. Still, the terror network says it plans to stage more attacks.

"Al Qaeda will organize more attacks against American and Jewish targets, inside and outside American territory, at the moment we choose, at the place we choose and with the methods we want," al Qaeda spokesman Abu Ghaith was quoted as saying this summer.

Rider on the storm

Bin Laden is a Sunni Muslim and his reserved demeanor stands in stark contrast to his readiness to use any available means to achieve his goals. A CSIS report released in 1999 made at least one unsettling observation regarding the future of terrorism.

"What has changed world-wide is the tactics available to terrorists. Those tactics have broadened and at least some terrorists have shown both a willingness and an ability to use new and potentially devastating weapons," the CSIS report said.

Backed by his own wealth, bin Laden has raised millions to support his terrorist operations. He has also turned to the black market and used diamonds from Sierra Leone, opium from Afghanistan and the honey trade to raise and transfer money around the globe.

In the book, The Man Who Declared War on America, the author says bin Laden associates paid the Chechens $30 million in cash and gave them two tonnes of heroin, valued at $700 million on the streets, for a number of nuclear suitcase bombs. Yossef Bodansky said Chechen rebels facilitated the sale.

Each suitcase bomb contains a radioactive core and Bodansky said they were bought in the 1990s from a range of several Soviet republics. Western intelligence sources say bin Laden also has the components for a nuclear weapons device, but doubt he has acquired the technical expertise to develop an atomic bomb.

"We supported the Pakistani people and congratulated them when Allah was gracious enough to enable them to acquire the nuclear weapon. We regard this as one of our rights, our Muslim rights," bin Laden told al-Jazeera television.

"We are demanding our right to have the Americans evicted from the Islamic world to prevent them from dominating us," bin Laden said in the 1999 interview.

In recent months, al Qaeda's experiments with chemical and biological have come under scrutiny. U.S. intelligence agencies suspect the group tested biological weapons at a small facility in northern Iraq on barnyard animals and possibly a human.

Convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam has testified he received training in the use of chemical agents at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. He said his instructors recommended inserting poison into the intake vents of buildings to ensure the maximum number of casualties.

While the world remains in a constant state of alert for another possible attack, bin Laden also harbours fear. Those who guard him, including his eldest son have been instructed to kill him if his capture appears imminent. Bin Laden is protected by men drawn from an elite unit known as Brigade 055.