Associated Press
- The New York Times and NBC News have reported that Hamza bin Laden, the son of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, was killed in the past two years. The New York Times reported that the US was involved in his death, although it’s not yet clear what that role was.
- The younger bin Laden had threatened Americans both at home and abroad, and is believed to have been groomed for a leadership position in Al-Qaeda.
- His death has not been confirmed by the US military or intelligence agencies.
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Hamza bin Laden, the son of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who reportedly traveled to Afghanistan to "avenge" his father, is dead, according to reports from The New York Times and NBC News.
Few details are yet known about his apparent death, according to those reports. The younger bin Laden was killed in the past two years; he was dead by the time the State Department offered a $1 million reward for information about his whereabouts this past January, but military and intelligence agencies had not yet confirmed his death, according to The New York Times.
US officials speaking to The New York Times said that the US played a role in the younger bin Laden’s death, although what that role was is unclear.
Hamza Bin Laden was being groomed for a leadership poisition in a resurgent Al Qaeda, according to the New York Times and NBC News.
Read more: The bin Laden family says Osama’s youngest son went to Afghanistan to ‘avenge’ his father
Hamza bin Laden fled with his father to Iran after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and since then has been reported in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in Syria. He was not at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where his father was killed by SEAL Team 6 in 2011. The younger bin Laden was believed to have been born around 1989 and married to the daughter of a high-ranking Al Qaeda leader.
President Donald Trump would not comment on reports about bin Laden’s death when asked, and an email to the White House requesting confirmation was not returned by press time. Al Qaeda has not released a statement regarding reports of bin Laden’s death.
According to the United Nations Security Council, the younger bin Laden’s last public statement was in March 2o18, through Al Qaeda’s official propaganda arm As-Sahab, calling for revolution in the Arabian Peninsula and for the Saudi monarchy to be overthrown. Previous statements from Hamza bin Laden threatened Americans at home and abroad.
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Source: Business Insider – eioanes@businessinsider.com (Ellen Ioanes)