LONDON, March 14: Osama bin Laden was irritable, lonely and in pain in the period before the Sept 11 attacks in the United States for which he is Washington’s chief suspect, according to one of his five wives.

In an interview with this week’s edition of the London-based Al-Majallah weekly magazine, the wife, identified only by the initials “A.S.”, said Osama had been suffering from kidney and stomach pains and told her he wanted to die in Afghanistan.

“In the last period... he appeared tired and fatigued and he was awake to the extent that most days he took sedatives and medicine to help him sleep,” she was quoted as saying.

“The last time I saw him, he told me it was necessary for him to move to another place and we wouldn’t hear anything from him for a long time.”

“A.S.” said she had not heard from her husband since Sept 11, when she was holed up in caves in southern Afghanistan.

The woman said he had not talked about the attacks on New York and Washington, but had claimed ownership of a “big plan” to confront the United States.

He also said he was preparing mujahideen fighters for military action, saying they were prepared to sacrifice themselves for him.

“I heard him say more than once that America was his number one enemy and that it was chasing him and trying to kill him,” she said. “He spoke about American dominance and its cooperation with Israel. He said America had humiliated the Arabs.”

Some US officials suspect Osama bin Laden is dead, killed either in US air raids on Afghanistan or due to kidney problems. His wife said she believed he was alive and well in Afghanistan.—Reuters