US officials believe al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's son Hamza is dead

WASHINGTON - The United States believes that Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and himself a notable figure in the extremist group, is dead, US officials said on Wednesday.

NBC News reported three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden's death, but gave no details of the place or date.

The New York Times subsequently cited two US officials saying they had confirmation that he was killed in the past two years in an operation that involved the United States.

US President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday declined to comment after NBC News first reported the US assessment. Asked if he had intelligence that bin Laden's son had been killed, Trump told reporters: "I don't want to comment on it."

Both reports suggested that the younger bin Laden may have been killed well before the US State Department announced a $1 million bounty on his head in February this year.

The 15th of Osama bin Laden's 20 children and a son of his third wife, Hamza, thought to be about 30 years old, was "emerging as a leader in the al-Qaida franchise", the US State Department said in announcing the reward.

Sometimes dubbed the "crown prince of jihad, he had put out audio and video messages calling for attacks on the US and other countries, especially to avenge his father's killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011", the department said.

Documents seized in the raid on his father's house in Abbottabad suggested Hamza was being groomed as heir to the al-Qaida leadership.

US forces also found a video of the wedding of Hamza to the daughter of another senior al-Qaida official that is believed to have taken place in the Middle East.

Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts have never been pinpointed. He was believed to have been under house arrest in the Middle East but reports suggest he also may have resided in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

While al-Qaida was responsible for the deadly Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the US, its prominence as a radical Islamist group has faded over the past decade in the shadow of the Islamic State group.

But the proliferation of branches and associated extremist groups in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere have underscored its continuing potency.

Hamza bin Laden was not targeted just because he was bin Laden's son, said Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremists.

"He was one of al-Qaida's loudest voices calling for attacks in the West and giving directives. He, with al-Qaida's help, was positioning himself to lead the global jihadi movement," Katz said on Twitter.

"He was seen as a future leader who would unite the global jihad. Thus, if he is indeed dead, it will be a major blow to the movement," she said.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/02/2019 page12)