Bin Laden relatives living in Iran - newspaper

London, 23 Dec-(ANA)-Some of the closest relatives of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden are living in a secret compound in Iran, the Times newspaper in London has reported.

The group includes a wife and children who disappeared from bin Laden's Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the report added.

It said other relatives found out last month that the group, including one of bin Laden's wives, six of his children and 11 of his grandchildren, had been kept in a high-security compound outside Tehran for the past eight years.

The Times quoted Omar bin Laden, 29, who it said was the al Qaeda leader's fourth-eldest son, as saying he had no idea that his brothers and sisters were still alive until they called him in November.

They told him how they had fled Afghanistan just before the 9/11 attacks and walked to the Iranian border. They were taken to a walled compound outside Tehran where guards said they were not allowed to leave "for their own safety".

One of the children, a daughter called Iman, had recently escaped during a rare trip outside the compound and made her way to the Saudi Arabian Embassy. She is now living there while seeking permission to leave Iran.

Omar bin Laden said that his relatives lived as normal a life as possible, cooking meals, watching television and reading. They were allowed out only rarely for shopping trips. (ANA)

FA/ANA/23 December 2009---