Osama bin Laden’s son vows revenge against US for killing his father in online audio message
In a 21-minute speech released by Al-Qaeda, Hamza bin Laden promises to continue the global militant group’s fight against the United States
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Your support makes all the difference.The son of Osama bin Laden has threatened revenge against the US for assassinating his father, according to an audio message posted online by Al-Qaeda.
Hamza bin Laden promised to continue the global militant group's fight against the United States and its allies in the 21-minute speech entitled "We Are All Osama," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that tracks white supremacist and jihadi organisations online.
"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," Hamza said.
"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 carried out the September 11 attacks.
Documents recovered from bin Laden's compound and published by the United States last year alleged that his aides tried to reunite the militant leader with Hamza, who had been held under house arrest in Iran.
Hamza, now in his mid-twenties, 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 think tank Brookings Institution.
Introduced by the organisation's new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in an audio message last year, Hamza provides a younger voice for the group whose ageing leaders have struggled to inspire militants around the world galvanised by Isis.
"Hamza provides a new face for Al-Qaeda, one that directly connects to the group's founder. He is an articulate and dangerous enemy," according to Bruce Riedel of Brookings Institution.
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