Intelligence report from US State Department sources indicate that one of the sons of the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could emerge as the new leader of the militant group.
The US State Department is offering a reward for information on Hamza bin Laden, thought to be about 30 years old and believed to be based near the Afghan-Pakistan border, of $1 million.
The State Department’s Counter-Terrorism Rewards Program posted the reward on its website late Thursday.
The State Department also indicate that Hamza recently released audio and video messages on the Internet, calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by US.
Hamza bin Laden is married to the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker and a mastermind of Al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001 deadliest attacks on the World Trade Center.
Hamza’s father, Osama bin Laden, was killed by US Navy Seals in Pakistan in 2011. During the operation, letters found by the Navy Seals on his hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to the Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader asking to be trained to follow him. The letters indicate Osama bin Laden was grooming Hamza to replace him some day.
Since Osama bin Laden’s death, Al-Qaeda has been led by Ayman al Zawahiri, a trained surgeon who was born in Egypt.
It is yet immediately clear why, if the State Department’s assessment is accurate. Is Al-Qaeda current Emir, Ayman al Zawahiri relinquishing power to Hamza bin Laden?
