Hamza bin Laden: Who was the terrorist with a $1m bounty on his head?
Wednesday 31 July 2019 23:01, UK
Russell Hope, news reporter
Hamza bin Laden appeared to be following in his father's footsteps.
The son of 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden, rose to prominence in al Qaeda and was considered enough of a threat for the US to offer $1m (£755,000) to anyone who could help them locate him.
Now that he is reported to be dead, here is what we know about the man who had been chosen to be leader of the terrorist group.
On 22 May 2017 a terrorist detonated a shrapnel-laden suicide vest at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people and injuring many more.
Ten days before, Hamza bin Laden had issued a call to al Qaeda followers worldwide urging them to attack "Jews" and "crusaders".
"Be perfect in your choice of targets, so that you may damage your enemies more," he said in the 10-minute tape released in English and Arabic.
It was a sign that he wanted to inherit his father's terror legacy and a price was placed on his head.
Hamza was believed to be the 15th of Bin Laden's 56 children by 22 wives, but his date of birth was unclear.
He was the son of his father's third wife Khairiah Sabar - by some accounts his favourite - a Saudi woman whose family traces its lineage to the prophet Muhammad.
US officials estimate he was aged between 30 and 33, but others put him in his late 20s.
His whereabouts were also unknown, but it was thought he was hiding out either in Afghanistan or across the border in restive western Pakistan.
Hamza spent his early childhood with his parents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Afghanistan where his father was based between 1991 and 2002 and, as a boy and teenager, featured in al Qaeda propaganda videos.
Letters captured in raids, including the one where bin Laden senior was killed in 2011, have revealed that he had a close relationship with his father.
The US State Department said items seized from his bolt-hole in Abbottabad in Pakistan indicated bin Laden was grooming Hamza to replace him as the leader of the terror group.
The terror leader's favouritism may have saved Hamza's life as, when US Navy Seals stormed the compound, he was not staying there on the orders of his father, according to US and Pakistani counter-terrorism officials.
But while no formal decision about a successor had been made, the deaths of other sons, Khaled (in the raid) and Saad (by drone strike in 2009) helped clear the path for Hamza to take over.
Letters written to aides shortly before Osama bin Laden's death indicate the patriarch was beginning to see his son as a future al Qaeda leader.
"Hamza is one of the mujahideen, and he bears their thoughts and worries," Osama bin Laden wrote in one.
Hamza was married to the daughter of 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta and the couple had three children, a son called Osama, a daughter Khairiah and one other. Their whereabouts are also unknown, but some reports say they are in Iran.
Video of his wedding, seized in the 2011 raid, was released by the US.
Several years later, Hamza began releasing online calls for jihad against the US and its western allies.
He previously threatened retaliation for the death of his father and in 2017, he was officially designated a "global terrorist" by the US.
Last year, his uncle Hassan told the Guardian Hamza had promised "to avenge my father".
Hamza's messages stressed the need for unity among extremist groups, a sign, perhaps, of leadership qualities.
Along with exhortations to his followers to launch attacks against the US and its allies, he placed an increasing emphasis on individual actions, so-called "lone wolf" attacks such as the Manchester Arena bombing.