The son of
slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has threatened revenge against the
United States for assassinating his father, according to an audio
message posted online.
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.
"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 U.S. commandos in 2011 in a major blow to the militant group which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 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 U.S.-led
invasion pushed much of al Qaeda's senior leadership there, according
to the Brookings Institution.
Introduced
by the organization's new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in an audio message
last year, Hamza provides a younger voice for the group whose aging
leaders have struggled to inspire militants around the world galvanized
by Islamic State.
"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.
(Reporting By Asma Alabed; Editing by Noah Browning and Janet Lawrence)
