Osama Bin Laden’s Son Hamza Killed Says US Intelligence

Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden, who is chosen as the heir to the leadership of Al-Qaeda has been killed according to the US Intelligence. 

According to NBC News, three US Intelligence officials have confirmed that they have information of Hamza bin Laden’s death, but gave no details of the place or date. But has confirmed that he was killed during the last two years during an operation by the United States.

In a Press meet, in the Oval Office, when President Donald Trump was asked to confirm or deny about the report, he said, “I don’t want to comment on it”.

Thus the media reports that have surfaced on the basis of unofficial US Intelligence confirmation also suggests that Hamza bin Laden may have been killed much before the US State Department announced a $1 million bounty on his head in February 2019.

30-year-old Hamza was the 15th of Osama bin Laden’s 20 children and a son of his third wife. Hamza was “emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise”, the State Department said during the announcement of the reward on him. 

He was dubbed as the crown prince of jihad, as he had put several provocative audio and video messages on the Internet, calling for attacks on the United States and other countries in order to avenge the killing of his father by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011.

Documents recovered during the raid in Abbottabad after killing Osama Bin Laden also suggested Hamza was being groomed as the heir to the Al-Qaeda leadership.

During the raid, the US forces also found a video of the wedding of Hamza with the daughter of a senior Al-Qaeda official. The marriage is believed to have taken place in Iran.

So far, Hamza bin Laden’s whereabouts have never been found. He was believed to have been in a hideout in Iran but reports suggest he also may have resided in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

Al Qaeda, which came into prominence after the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but its strength and prominence has faded over the past few decades under the shadow of ISIS. But the recent proliferation of its branches and association with other terror groups in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere has underscored its continuing potency.

Hamza was with his father in Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks. He also learned how to handle weapons, and speak out against Americans, Jews and ‘Crusaders’ in videos uploaded online. In the year 2016, Al-Qaeda released a video message in which Hamza is seen urging ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight in the war-torn country paves the way to liberate Palestine.

He said in the video message, “There is no longer an excuse for those who insist on division and disputes now that the whole world has mobilised against Muslims”.

In another message he called on Saudi youth to overthrow the rule of King, urging them to enlist in the Yemen based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in order to gain battlefield experience.

 

In the year 2017, Hamza was placed on the US terrorist blacklist, as he was seen as a potential future figurehead for the group then led by Osama bin Laden’s former deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.