US: HAMZA BIN LADEN KILLED
US President Donald Trump confirmed Hamza bin Laden, the son and designated heir of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, was killed in an operation in the Afghanistan Pakistan region.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Hamza bin Laden, son of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, had been killed in a US counter-terrorism operation, confirming reports of the death that had been circulating for weeks. The White House said in a statement he was killed somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
“The loss of Hamza bin Ladin not only deprives al Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group,” Trump said. No other details, including the timing, were disclosed. Reports earlier had speculated it could have been any time in the last two years. Asked about the reports in August, Trump had declined to comment but said Hamza “was very threatening to our country. He was saying very bad things about our country”.
Mark Esper, the defence secretary, came closest to confirming it when he told Fox News late August that it was “my understanding” that the younger bin Laden had been killed.
In the documents seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011, Hamza, who was not with the family at the time, was being groomed by his father to take over the outfit.
In recent years, he was seen assuming a a more active role int he outfit. Designating him a terrorist in February, the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee said he was being given “a more prominent role within al Qaeda, and is considered to have the capability to follow through with his threats”.