Washington: Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza, chosen heir to the leadership of Al-Qaeda, has been killed, US media reported Wednesday citing American officials. NBC News said three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden’s death, but gave no details of the place or date.
US President Donald Trump, however does not deny not approve of this. He says “I don’t want to comment on it”. New York Times subsequently cited two officials saying that they had the confirmation that he was killed in the attack in the past two years by the operations of United Sates.
Both the reports have suggested that bin Laden may have been killed well before the US State department put a bounty of 1 million $ on his head on February 2019. Documents seized in the raid on his father’s house in Abbottabad suggested Hamza was being groomed as heir to the Al-Qaeda leadership. The Department said, sometimes dubbed the “crown prince of jihad, he had put out audio and video messages calling for attacks on the United States and other countries, especially to avenge his father’s killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011.
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-Qaeda franchise,” the State Department said while announcing the reward.
