E-Paper
UNSC blacklists Osama bin Laden’s son, seen as successor of al Qaida leader al-Zawahiri
The UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIS and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee listed 29-year old Hamza bin Laden on Thursday, the day the US announced a reward of up to one million dollars for information about him.
Prefer HTon Google
A UN security council committee added Hamza bin Laden, one of the sons of Osama bin Laden, to its list of terrorists on Friday, saying he is seen as the next leader of al Qaeda, the terrorist outfit founded by his father.
The UN designation, which came a day after the United States announced a reward of $1 million for information about his whereabout, will require UN member nations to freeze Hamza bin Laden’s assets, impose a travel ban on him and forbid them from selling arms to him.
In the announcement of the new designation, the UNSC committee said Hamza bin Laden is “seen as the most probable successor” of al Qaeda’s current head, Ayman al Zawahiri, an Egyptian, who has run the group since Osama bin Laden was killed by American commandos in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan in May 2011.
The younger bin Laden is said to be around 30 or 33 years of age and is married to daughter of Mohammad Atta, leader of the al Qaeda group that carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Bin Laden has vowed to avenge his father’s death by attacking the United States and has repeatedly called for followers to target the US and its western allies.
He is said to be hiding in the region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Bin Laden’s listing was announced by the same 15-member UNSC committee that is currently considering a fourth proposal to designate Masood Azhar, the founder and leader of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad that carried out the recent Pulwama terrorist attack. China had blocked all three previous attempts.
