Son of al-Qaeda’s late leader Osama bin Laden killed in US operation

World Today

Son of al-Qaeda's late leader Osama bin Laden killed in US operationSon of al-Qaeda’s late leader Osama bin Laden killed in US operation

The son of al-Qaeda’s late leader Osama bin Laden is dead. The White House announced Hamza bin Laden was killed in a U.S. counter-terrorism operation.

CGTN’s Gerald Tan has the details.

He was seen as the eventual heir to al-Qaeda. Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late Osama bin Laden, hadn’t been heard from publicly since last year.

On Saturday, the White House confirmed rumors that had been swirling for months… that the younger bin Laden was dead – killed by U.S. forces in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.

In a memo, President Donald Trump said, “The loss of Hamza bin Ladin (sic) 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.”

Still, many questions remain. The President did not state exactly when the operation took place, although media reports have suggested it could have been sometime in the last two years.

There’s also been no word from al-Qaeda itself or any form of a eulogy, common for a death in the group’s higher ranks.

Bin Laden is believed to have been in his early 30s. He came to public light in 2015, introduced as a “lion from the den” of the al-Qaeda network, and quickly became the group’s spokesman on video recordings.

Washington designated him a global terrorist two years ago, after he threatened to attack the U.S. and its western allies.

The U.S. State Department has said that items seized from the elder bin Laden’s hiding place after his death in 2011 indicated he was grooming his son to take over the reins of al-Qaeda.

Hamza bin Laden’s death may signal the end of a dynasty, but not of al-Qaeda itself.