Hamza bin Laden, one of deceased Osama bin Laden's son, has a huge price on his head. $1 million to be precise. Also known as the 'crown prince of jihad,' there have been speculations of him living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria or under house arrest in Iran. The US State department has offered the reward for any information that might lead to to his whereabouts.
“Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ leader Osama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise,” a State Department statement said, referring to Al-Qaeda.
US intelligence agencies increasingly see the younger bin Laden as a successor to his father for the mantle of global jihad, especially as the even more extreme Islamic State group is down to its last sliver of land in Syria. Bin Laden in 2015, released an audio message urging jihadists in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight in the war-torn country paves the way to “liberating Palestine”.
And a year alater, he urged the overthrow of the leadership in their native Saudi Arabia.
Hamza bin Laden was officially designated by the US as a global terrorist two years ago. He is said to have married daughter of a hijacker, Mohammed Atta, who hijacked one of the planes involved in the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
He is believed to have spent years along with his mother in Iran, despite Al-Qaeda's strident denunciations of the Shiite branch of Islam that dominates the country.
Clerical regime in Tehran have apparently kept him under house arrest as a way to maintain pressure on rival Saudi Arabia as well as on Al-Qaeda, dissuading the Sunni militants from attacking Iran.
— With inputs from PTI
