Bin Laden worried wife had tracking device

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Hiding in Pakistan, an increasingly paranoid Osama bin Laden suspected Iran of implanting a tracking device in his wife’s mouth and drafted a will directing much of his $29 million fortune to be spent on jihad after his death.

The details about the al-Qaida leader’s life were released Tuesday in a second batch of letters and other documents seized in a May 2011 raid that killed bin Laden at his secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The letters detail his rift with militants who later broke off from al-Qaida and formed the Islamic State, as well as plans for a media blitz to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Other correspondence resonates with suspicion and fear.

In a letter to one of his wives who lived in Iran, bin Laden expressed worry that her dental appointment could have allowed Iranians to implant a tracking device under her skin.

“My dear wife,” he began. “I was told that you went to a dentist in Iran, and you were concerned about a filling she put in for you. Please let me know in detail ... any suspicions that any of the brothers may have about chips planted in any way.”