The United States has obtained intelligence that the son of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, is dead, according to three U.S. officials. No details have been provided regarding Hamza’s cause of death or if the U.S. played a role in it.
His death reportedly occurred within the last two years but was only recently confirmed. Donald Trump was asked by reporters whether or not the U.S. had intelligence that Hamza was dead, to which he replied, “I don’t want to comment on that.”
According to NBC News, Hamza bin Laden’s last known public statement was released by al Qaeda’s media in 2018, where he threatened Saudi Arabia and called on people of the Arabian peninsula to revolt. His father, Osama, is who oversaw operations in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington.
Navy SEALS killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 during a raid of his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound. His son was not present during that time; however, letters seized from the compound suggested Osama wanted his son to join him in Abbottabad and was preparing him to become leader.
Counter-terror expert and former FBI agent Ali Soufan said in a September 2017 article, “Hamza is being prepared for a leadership role in the organization his father founded” and is “likely to be perceived favorably by the jihadi rank-and-file.”
In February, the State Department announced they would pay as much as $1 million for information on Hamza bin Laden’s whereabouts.
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