By IANS,
Washington : Watermelons formed part of the homemade remedies Osama bin Laden relied on to recover from two kidney operations when he was in Afghanistan around a decade ago, a media report said Sunday.
The slain Al Qaeda chief’s youngest wife, a Yemeni named Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatahl, told investigators that her 54-year-old husband was not on dialysis to treat a kidney ailment as widely believed. She was with Osama when he was shot dead by US commandos in their Abbottabad house in Pakistan, the New York Times said.
“He was neither weak nor frail,” one of the investigator quoted Osama’s wife as saying.
She told investigators that Osama, when he was living in southern Afghanistan, recovered from two kidney operations in part by using homemade remedies, including watermelon, the Times said.
There were nine children in the Abbottabad household. Investigators were unclear how many were Osama’s children and those of his son Khalid and how many belonged to the trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwait, and his brother.
Neighbors said the courier and his brother had seven children between them.
Pakistani officials found remedies for children’s ear infections, colds and coughs in the Abbottabad house.
The Times, quoting NBC News, said the Pakistanis also found Avena syrup, an extract of wild oats that can be taken for an upset stomach but is also sold as an aphrodisiac.