US drops charges against bin Laden

A Pakistani army soldier checks a cyclist
© AFP/File Asif Hassan

AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) - Federal prosecutors dropped charges against Osama bin Laden from attacks spanning more than a decade, officials said in court papers filed in US District Court in New York Friday.

Charges included more than 200 counts of criminal activity such as murder, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against civilians and more.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the request, which is a common procedure when the defendant dies.

The decision applies to charges originally filed in June 1998, which were brought against bin Laden for supporting the ambush that killed 18 US soldiers during an attack in Somalia in 1993.