Trump says bin Laden son was killed in counterterror strike

WASHINGTON — Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden and once-possible heir to the al-Qaida terrorist network, was killed in a U.S. counterterror operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, President Donald Trump said Saturday — an announcement that comes more than a month after officials suggested he was killed.

Osama bin Laden’s son was “responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House. His death is a blow to al-Qaida’s leadership acumen, Trump said, and symbolic given the connection to his slain father, who was killed in a Navy SEAL raid on his Pakistani refuge in 2011.

But relatively little is known about the 9/11 mastermind’s youngest son — not even his formal role in al-Qaida or his age, which is believed to be around 30.

Trump gave no further details over the operation to kill the younger bin Laden, and it is unclear when and where he was killed. No recordings featuring bin Laden had been released for several months, and al-Qaida has not issued a formal announcement over his death, even though it is typical for the group to do so when leaders are killed.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who co-founded al-Qaida, remains the organization’s leader. His whereabouts are unknown.

While the White House confirmed Hamza bin Laden’s death on Saturday, U.S. officials for months have telegraphed the possibility of his killing at the hands of the U.S. In July, NBC reported it obtained intelligence he was killed.