A son of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and alleged leader of the terror network has been killed according to media reports. The New York Times (NYT) reported yesterday, citing two US officials, that Hamsa bin Laden had been killed in an operation involving US involvement.
Earlier, the station NBC News had reported, citing three government officials, it would be intelligence information on the death of about 30 years ago. Details of the place and time of death were not made. According to „NYT“ Hamsa bin Laden was killed in the past two years.
No comment from Trump
US President Donald Trump declined to comment on demand. „I do not want to comment on that,“ he told reporters in the White House.
The US suspended $ 1 million in February for clues to the bin Laden son’s whereabouts. This has become „one of the leaders“ of the Al Qaeda terror network, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The NYT and NBC News reports suggest that Hamsa bin Laden was already dead by then.
Over the past few years, there have been repeated rumors that Hamsa bin Laden 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. Hamsa bin Laden is the 15th of about 20 children bin Laden and son of his third wife.
Recently more present in Al Qaeda propaganda
In recent years, Hamsa bin Laden has increasingly appeared in Al Qaeda propaganda. For example, on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the terror network distributed a photomontage showing the faces of Osama and Hamsa bin Laden in the flames of the New York World Trade Center.
In 2015, Hamsa bin Laden called for jihadists in Syria to be united in an audio message 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.
