/

U.S. announcement expected about Bin Laden's son amid report of death

1 August 2019
10419
2019-08-01 11:51

The U.S. government is expected to make an announcement shortly about Hamza bin Laden, the son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

United States had obtained intelligence that Hamza bin Laden is dead, but would not provide details of where or when he died. Hamza, believed to be about 30 years old, was at his father's side in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and spent time with him in Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan pushed much of al Qaeda's senior leadership there. Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces who raided his compound in Pakistan in 2011.

Hamza has called for acts of terrorism in Western capitals and threatened to take revenge against the United States for his father's killing, the U.S. State Department said in 2017 when it designated him as a global terrorist. The State Department had previously offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading "to the identification or location in any country" of Hamza, calling him a key al Qaeda leader.

-- End --