Washington sources added the United States on Thursday offered a USD 1 million reward for information on a son of late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, seeing him as an emerging face of extremism. Reportedly the location of Hamza bin Laden, sometimes dubbed the "crown prince of jihad," has been the subject of speculation for years with reports of him living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Syria or under house arrest in Iran.
A State Department statement said, referring to Al-Qaeda "Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ leader Osama Bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise”. Furthermore the State Department said that it would offer USD 1 million for information leading to his location in any country. Apparently Bin Laden, who according to the United States is around 30, has threatened attacks against the United States to avenge the 2011 killing of his father.
Moreover 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. Reportedly Osama bin Laden's three surviving wives and his children were quietly allowed to return to Saudi Arabia after his killing. Presently Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts have been a matter of dispute despite Al-Qaeda's strident denunciations of the Shiite branch of Islam that dominates the country.
