US President Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed that Hamza bin Laden, the son and designated heir of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, was killed in a counter-terrorism operation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
“Hamza bin Laden, the high-ranking al-Qaeda member and son of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region,” Trump said in a brief statement issued by the White House.
However, Trump did not specify the exact place where Hamza was killed and under what circumstances.
“The loss of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives Al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group,” said the statement.
Hamza, 15th of Osama bin Laden’s 20 children and a son of his third wife, was said to be about 30 years old, and was “emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise,” the State Department said in announcing a $1 million bounty on his head in February 2019.
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In 2017, Hamza was placed on the US terror blacklist, seen as a potential future figurehead for the group then led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Hamza bin Laden is believed to have made his last public appearance in 2018. He was regarded as the likely successor to the organisation’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during a US Navy SEAL special operation following a 10-year manhunt.