LOS ANGELES, April 1: Breaking the family silence that the bin Ladens’ had maintained since Sept 11 attacks, Abdullah bin Laden, one of Osama’s 53 siblings, says the bin Ladens’ should not be blamed for the actions of one of their relative.

“We are a big family,” Abdullah bin Laden told ABCNEWS’ Barbara Walters in an interview on Sunday.

“We have so many brothers and sisters, and a member took a different direction. The rest shouldn’t be blamed for the act of an individual,” he remarked.

Abdullah bin Laden, the designated spokesman for the bin Laden clan, holds a law degree from Harvard and was in Boston at the time of Sept 11 attacks.

He said the family was “horrified” by the attacks and the subsequent news that Osama was behind them.

“We went through a tough time. We felt we are a victim as well,” he said. “But no matter what happened to us, our tragedy is not as bad as that of Sept 11 victims in New York”.

The bin Laden family, which runs one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East and has business interests around the world, publicly distanced itself from Osama in 1993.

Abdullah said the family cut all personal and financial ties with Osama, and that no family member has contact with him or provides any kind of support for him.

“We don’t want to feel guilty by association,” he said. “We don’t want people to accuse us of being guilty because we carry the same name.”

At 35, Abdullah is nine years younger than Osama. The two are sons of the family patriarch, Mohammed bin Laden, but have different mothers.

Abdullah said he has no idea why his brother turned away from the family business and adopted a militant brand of Islam.

He said he last saw Osama in the late 1980s at the funeral of an older brother, and said he barely knows him.

The bin Ladens’ reportedly hired high-profile political consultants and publicists in the weeks after the attacks, in an effort to protect the family’s name and business interests. But immediate family members did not talk to the media directly.