The United States has received intelligence that Hazma bin Laden, the son and heir of deceased Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is dead, NBC News reported.
The officials have not provided any additional information regarding where Hazma died, nor whether the U.S. played any part in his death.
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Little is known of Hazma’s infancy, though he is believed to have been born around 1989.
He and his father, Osama, moved to Afghanistan in 1996 and declared war against the U.S. Osama oversaw operations against Western targets, the culmination of which was the devastating September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Hazma was reported to have been married to the daughter of 9/11 mastermind and hijacker, Mohammed Atta.
He appeared in several of his father’s propaganda videos in which he threatened America. At the time of Osama’s death, Hazma was not with him, though letters obtained at the al Qaeda leader’s compound revealed he had been grooming his son to take over leadership of the terrorist group.
Osama was killed in 2011 during a raid by Navy SEALS on his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound.
Special forces killed the al Qaeda leader, prompting Hazma to reportedly take revenge against the U.S. for his father’s death, the State Department said in 2017 upon designating Hazma a global terrorist.
Three U.S. officials revealed that the U.S. has obtained intelligence that Hazma is now dead.
When asked by reporters on Wednesday whether this is, in fact, true, President Donald Trump said, “I don’t want to comment on that.”
Reports of Hazma’s death come just months after the so-called “Crown Prince of Jihad” had a $1M reward put on his head.
In February, America offered the bounty for any information that would lead to the arrest of Hamza, who was becoming a rising star, so to speak, in al Qaeda.
Believed to be around 30 years old, he made his last known public statement in 2018, in which he threatened Saudi Arabia and called on the people of the Arabian peninsula to revolt.
h/t: NBC News
