London: Osama bin Laden's fifth and favourite wife, Amal al-Sadah, has been arrested after a gunbattle at her father's compound in Yemen, media reports said on November 3.

Amal al-Sadah, who is in her early twenties, has been placed under house arrest and questioned by the Yemeni authorities. Her father and brother have also been detained, 'The Sunday Times' reported.

Amal fled the American bombing of Afghanistan last year with her young daughter Safia under a meticulous plan worked out by bin Laden to protect his three wives who were in Afghanistan at the time.

According to the report, one of bin Laden's sons took Amal and her child from a house in the city of Kandahar, in Southern Afghanistan, to hide them, initially in caves. She was then smuggled across borders, first into Pakistan and then, earlier this year, to Yemen.

Bin Laden reportedly told her that she had to leave their home in Kandahar, and that she would not hear from him "for a long time".

She escaped from her hiding place in Southern Afghanistan, only to find herself closely guarded under house arrest in her father's compound.

PTI