President Trump has confirmed that Hamza bin Laden, the son of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, has been killed.
“Hamza bin Ladin, the high-ranking al-Qa’ida member and son of Usama bin Ladin, was killed in a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region,” Trump said in a White House statement on Saturday.
“The loss of Hamza bin Ladin not only deprives al-Qa’ida of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group. Hamza bin Ladin was responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups,” the statement concluded.
It’s not yet clear when the U.S. counterterror operation took place.
On July 31, NBC News had reported that defense officials obtained intelligence of bin Laden’s death, but the details surrounding the alleged death were unclear.
The U.S. State Department in March had offered a $1 million reward for any information on Hamza’s whereabouts.
His last public remarks were in March 2018 when he released a statement through Al Qaeda’s media outlet in which he praised the terror group’s efforts in the Arabian Peninsula and called on the people in the region to revolt against Saudi Arabia, according to the United Nations.
Last August, it had been reported that Hamza had married the daughter of one of the lead hijackers in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Osama bin Laden’s half-brothers confirmed the marriage in an interview with The Guardian. Ahmad and Hassan al-Attas said at the time that Hamza had advanced to a senior position within the terror organization and planned to avenge the death of his father, who was killed in a highly-publicized U.S. military raid in 2011.
Hassan al-Attas had suggested that Hamza should avoid retaking the steps of his father.
“When we thought everyone was over this, next thing I knew was Hamza saying ‘I am going to avenge my father.’ I don’t want to go through that again. If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him: God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don’t retake the steps of your father. You are entering really negative and horrible parts of your soul,” Hassan al-Attas had said.
In November 2017, the CIA released hundreds of thousands more documents that were seized in the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.
There were nearly 470,000 new documents on the CIA’s website, including Bin Laden’s journal, personal videos of his son Hamza bin Laden’s wedding, Bin Laden family photographs and written insights into al Qaeda’s leadership.
There were also documents about the Illuminati, and pirated video games and anime. Other movies on bin Laden’s hard drive included “Tom and Jerry,” “The Pink Panther,” “Sex Crimes and the Vatican” and the viral YouTube video “Charlie Bit My Finger.”
