Omar Bin Laden was woken by an urgent phone call from a friend who told him to turn on the television.
The news headlines screamed that his father, al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden, had been hunted down and killed by US special forces.
But today Omar, once his father's chosen successor to lead the terror network, reveals he doesn't hold a grudge against President Barack Obama for his father's slaying on May 2 this year. The 30-year-old, who has long spoken out against his father's terrorist activities, said in an exclusive interview last night: "I expected that one day he would be killed but it was still a big shock.
"I loved him, he was my father. I didn't agree with what he did - I only believe in peace - but that doesn't mean I couldn't love him as a father.
"I didn't cry, I never cry, I don't know why but I don't.
"When I heard the news my whole life flashed through my mind like a movie.
"All the good and bad times, in Sudan and Afghanistan with my father when I was younger."
Speaking good English in a low whisper, Bin Laden's fourth eldest son added: "I don't hate Obama for killing my father. He did what he had to do. He was at war with my father. My father had spent his time and all the money he could get to fight his enemies. He was America's worst enemy.
"Obama and Hillary Clinton did what they had to do but they weren't smiling about it. People had been killed.
"Presidents Bush and Clinton had tried but failed to kill my father. It has made Obama very popular."
"I heard, like everyone else, he was buried at sea. But if I was in their position I would 100 per cent have kept the body for the rest of our lives.
"My father was the main enemy of America and I would have kept his body for the ultimate proof that he was dead.
"One of the people shot dead in Abbottabad was my brother Khalid. I recognised his body in pictures shown on the internet.
"People didn't know it was my brother at first. No one seemed to know it was Osama's son.
"He was the most peaceful one in the whole family. He was so young. I don't know why he was killed. I have no idea what happened in that compound."
Omar said of the footage found in the compound of Bin Laden hunched over a TV: "My father looked old and tired. The whole world had been trying to catch him for ten years - that's not an easy life to lead. It's amazing he managed to remain free."
New al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri once lived with Omar and his father in Afghanistan.
Omar, who has taken up boxing to keep fit, explained: "Zawahiri lived in the same compound in Afghanistan. He was my father's friend.
But Omar was disgusted when the fanatics started killing his pets to test chemical weapons.
He fled Afghanistan in April 2001, just before his father became the world's most wanted man.
"The same mentality is still alive. al-Qaeda people aren't going to give up the fight."
But the self-confessed Harry Potter fan added: "I didn't agree with my father. I am completely against violence and want peace.
"I don't hate America at all, I like its culture, films and music."
While driving in his black Lexus Land Cruiser, Omar listened to singer Celine Dion at full volume.
Courtesy; The sun
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