Hamza bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin
Laden, the son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden, has released an audio message threatening to
avenge the killing of his father by the United States.
In the 21-minute speech entitled ‘We Are All Osama’,
Hamza bin Laden promised to continue the global
militant group’s fight against the US and its allies.
“We will continue striking you and targeting you in
your country and abroad in response to your
oppression of the people of Palestine, Afghanistan,
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and the rest of the
Muslim lands that did not survive your oppression,”
SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that tracks
white supremacist and jihadi organisations online,
quoted him as saying.
“As for the revenge by the Islamic nation for Sheikh
Osama, may Allah have mercy on him, it is not
revenge for Osama the person but it is revenge for
those who defended Islam.”
Osama bin Laden was killed at his Pakistani hideout
by US commandos in 2011, in a major blow to the
militant group, which masterminded the September
11, 2001 attacks.
In March 2003, it was claimed that Hamza and his
brother Saad bin Laden had been wounded and
captured in Ribat, Afghanistan, but it turned out to
be false.
In a 2005 video titled ‘The Mujahideen of Waziristan’,
Hamza was shown participating in an al-Qaeda
assault on Pakistani security forces in the south
Waziristan tribal region between Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
In September 2007, it was reported that he was again
in the tribal belt encompassing the Pakistan/
Afghanistan border region taking a senior role with
al-Qaeda forces.
Now in his mid-20s, Hamza was at his father’s side
in Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks and spent
time with him in Pakistan after the US-led invasion
pushed much of al Qaeda’s senior leadership there,
according to the Brookings Institution.
“Hamza provides a new face for al Qaeda, one that
directly connects to the group’s founder. He is an
articulate and dangerous enemy,” Bruce Riedel of
Brookings said.
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