Osama bin Laden’s son killed in US operation

Hamza bin Laden was killed in a US counterterrorism operation, a statement released on Saturday on an operation took place in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

The death of Hamza bin Laden "not only deprives al-Qa'ida [sic] of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father but undermines important operational activities of the group," said the statement.

In July, intelligenceofficials in the United States had received information that Hamza bin Ladenhad been killed, but gave no details of the date or place.

Saturday's confirmationcame three days after the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – masterminded byOsama bin Laden – in which nearly 3,000 people were killed.

Osama bin Laden was killed in an operation by US forces in Pakistan on May 2011.

In February, the USgovernment put a $1m reward on Hamza bin Laden's head, saying the man sometimesdubbed the "crown prince of jihad" was "emerging as a leader inthe al-Qaeda franchise".

He had put out audio andvideo messages calling for attacks on the US and other countries, especially toavenge his father's death. In 2017, the US added Hamza to its counterterrorismblacklist.

Documents seized in theraid on his father's house in Abbottabad, in Pakistan's northern KhyberPakhtunkhwa province, suggested that Hamza bin Laden was being groomed as heirto the al-Qaeda leadership, according to the US State Department.

He was at his father'sside before the 9/11 attacks and spent time with him in Pakistan after theUS-led invasion of Afghanistan pushed much of al-Qaeda's senior leadershipthere, according to the Brookings Institution, a think tank.

US forces also found avideo of the younger bin Laden's wedding to the daughter of another senioral-Qaeda official. He is thought to have been 30 years old at the time of hisdeath.

Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts had never been publicly confirmed. He was believed to have been under house arrest in Iran, but reports suggested he also may have lived in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria.

In March, Saudi Arabiaannounced it had stripped him of his citizenship, saying the decision was madeby a royal order in November 2018.

Al-Qaeda's prominence asan armed group has faded over the past decade following the emergence of theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). However,branches and affiliated armed fighters in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria andelsewhere are evidence of its enduring influence.