US President Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed the death of Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, who was considered the successor to his father at the head of al-Qaeda.
"Hamza bin Laden, a senior al-Qaida official and son of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a US-led counterterrorism operation in an area between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Trump said in a statement, without giving a date for the operation.
"The killing of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives al-Qaeda of its authority and of its symbolic association with his father, but also undermines important operational activities of the organization."
"Hamza bin Laden planned and worked with different terrorist groups," he said.
At the end of August, Defense Secretary Mark Esper was the first US official to speak publicly about the death of Hamza bin Laden. Asked about the latter's death in a television interview, he said: "That's what I learned." But he declined to elaborate. "I have no details. Even if I own it, I'm not sure I can reveal it to you. ''
According to information published in the New York Times at the end of July, the death of Hamza bin Laden, 30, occurred in the last two years.
Hamza is the 15th son of Osama bin Laden, his third wife, and in March his Saudi nationality was withdrawn.
The United States has blacklisted him for terrorism.
In Afghanistan, where he was with his father before the September 11 attacks, he learned to use weapons and appeared in a number of video footage of attacking Americans and Jews.
Documents, including letters published in May 2015, indicated that Osama bin Laden was preparing Hamza as his successor at the head of the organization.
In February, Washington offered a reward of up to $ 1 million for any information to help find it. He accused him of being promoted to al-Qaeda and assumed responsibilities after his father's death in 2011.
Since at least August 2015, Hamza bin Laden has started publishing audio messages and video footage calling for attacks on the United States and its allies ... in retaliation for his father's death in May 2011, the State Department says.