This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
On September 14, 2019, US President Donald Trump confirmed the death of Hamza bin Laden, the son and designated heir of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, in a counter-terrorism operation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
According to Trump, the loss of Hamza bin Laden 'deprives Al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group.'
US media had reported in early August that the younger Bin Laden had been killed sometime in the last two years in an operation that involved the United States.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had confirmed the death later that month, but Trump and other senior officials had not publicly confirmed the news until then.
Hamza bin Laden, the 15th of Osama bin Laden's 20 children and a son of his third wife, was 'emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise' and had a $1 million bounty on his head, announced by the State Department in February 2019.
