George W Bush has invited Omar bin Laden to the White House

The son of Osama bin Laden has claimed he was invited to the White House in the final days of George W Bush's presidency in a last-ditch attempt to discover the whereabouts of the world's most wanted terrorist.

Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of the al-Qaeda leader, claims he received a visit from White House staff in January 2009 at his home in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

"They invited me to accompany them to the White House, offered to defend, help and protect me, on the condition that I helped them find my father," he told Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia, in an interview published on Monday.

But the 29-year-old said he refused because of filial duty. "I told them I was sorry but it wasn't something I could do. He is my father and I am his son, and as is the way the son must love and respect his father," he said, adding: "Even if in many cases a man may be against the ideas of his father."

But the son who was once groomed to take over from bin Laden later admitted that he had had no contact with his father for almost a decade.

The younger Bin Laden claims to have renounced violence and walked away from his father's compound in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan, months before the attacks on September 11, 2001.