US President Donald Trump has confirmed the death of the alleged leader of al Qaeda terrorist network, Hamza bin Laden. The son of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was killed in a US-led anti-terrorist operation "in the Afghanistan / Pakistan region," a White House statement released Saturday said.
At the beginning of August, US media had already reported on the death of the 30-year-old, citing intelligence information.
The White House said that the bin Laden son's death was not just a setback for Al-Qaeda for symbolic reasons, but "undermined important group activity."
The US suspended $ 1 million in February for clues about the location of the bin Laden son. This has become "one of the leaders" of the Al Qaeda terror network, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
State Department / Handout / REUTERS
Hamza bin Laden on the US State Department mug shot
Summer New York Times and NBC News reports that Hamza bin Laden may have been dead by this time.
Over the past few years, there have been repeated rumors that he is hiding in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria or Iran. He was considered a possible successor to al-Qaeda leader Aiman al-Sawahiri.
Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was tracked down and killed in 2011 by US special forces in his hiding place in Pakistan. Hamza bin Laden is the 15th of about 20 children bin Laden and son of his third wife (Read here a search: Hamza bin Laden - Who was the man?)
In recent years Bin Laden has increasingly appeared in al-Qaida propaganda. For example, on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the terror network distributed a photomontage showing the faces of Osama and Hamza Bin Laden in the flames of the New York World Trade Center.
In 2015, he called the jihadists in Syria in an audio message to unity that would lead to the "liberation of Palestine". In the same year he threatened attacks in the US, Europe and around the world to avenge the killing of his father. He also called for the overthrow of the monarchy in Saudi Arabia, the home country of his family.
