Rabat – A statement from President Donald Trump has confirmed that a US “counterterrorism operation” has killed Hamza bin Laden following earlier reports of his death.
Hamza bin Laden was the son of Osama bin Laden and a leader in his father’s Al Qaeda terrorist organization.
In a statement on Saturday, September 14, the White House asserted the younger bin Laden’s death “deprives al-Qa’ida of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father.”
In July, officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the US killed bin Laden in a strike sometime in the previous two years.
Trump’s statement said the attack occurred in Afghanistan or Pakistan but was sparse on details and did not say when the strike happened. The White House claimed bin Laden was “responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups.”
In February, the US State Department announced a reward of $1 million for information on Hamza bin Laden’s whereabouts. The department’s Rewards for Justice Program described the younger bin Laden as “an emerging al Qaeda leader” who “has threatened attacks against the United States and allies.”
The US has classed Hamza bin Laden as a terrorist in 2017.
The confirmation comes 10 years after the US killed Hamza’s brother Saad in a drone strike and more than eight years after US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden and another son, Khalid, in Pakistan in May 2011.
It also comes the same week that New York commemorated the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks carried out by Al Qaeda.
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