Hamza Bin Laden Osama’s son a.k.a. "the Crown Prince of Terror” may be hiding in Pakistan.(TN).
LAHORE: Osama bin Ladenís elder son, Hamzah bin Laden, who is described by the US intelligence community as the crown prince of terror, being the most militant son of the slain al-Qaeda chief, was possibly living at a safe house in Peshawar when his father was hunted down and shot dead by the US Navy SEALs at his Abbottabad hideout on May 2, 2011.
Well placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad say the American intelligence community has been looking into Hamzah bin Laden hís possible presence in Peshawar since the May 2 raid last year during which the US Navy SEALs took a trove of documents from bin Ladenís Abbottabad compound.
The Americans have already made public some select letters to and from bin Laden dated between 2006 and 2011 which were recovered from his hideout and which give a partial view of what the al-Qaeda leadership was thinking and plotting during its years on the run. According to one such letter, feeling concerned about the security measures for his elder son Hamzah bin Laden, Osama had asked a senior military commander of al-Qaeda to facilitate the establishment of a safe house in Peshawar for Hamzah.
Born in Saudi Arabia in 1989, Hamzah is the son of Khairiah Sabar, one of bin Ladenís three wives who were living in the Abbottabad compound at the time of his killing. Hamzah is said to be the spitting image of his father; in jihadi videos, the similarities in their facial features are accented by the camouflage vest, white turban, and automatic rifle he sports, so that he resembles a scaled-down, baby-faced version of the al-Qaeda chief.
Suspecting that Hamzah and his mother were under watch, Osama had directed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a senior al-Qaeda commander [who had been operating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan at that time] that the security of his son and wife should be given extra care. Bin Laden apparently felt that Peshawar was safe enough to hide one of his favorite sons who was reportedly being groomed as the future ameer of al-Qaeda. As per the letter dated October 21, 2010, bin Laden had advised his chief of staff, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, to relocate his fighters from Waziristan to Afghanistan. He had then asked Atiyah to facilitate the establishment of a safe house in Peshawar for his son, Hamzah bin Laden. The letter, which shows that Osama was much concerned about security precautions for Hamzah, also expressed distrust for Pakistanís premier spy agency ñ the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Osama wrote in his letter to Atiyah (who was eventually killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan on August 22, 2011): ìn your letter, you talked about your relationship with Abu-Salman al-Baluchi. I know that he is good Mujahid and got detained in the past, but some of the Baluchi people that he knows work for the Pakistani intelligence. Therefore, I advise you to be careful and not talk to him about your news and secrets. Also, for that reason, my son Hamzah should not be at his place or anywhere near him. Regarding Hamzah and his mother, I wish you take all the security precautions that were mentioned before in order to disrupt surveillance on him.
He should move only when the clouds are heavy. Then, Um-Hamzah goes to the middle-man on my side. I asked him to make all the remaining arrangements. I also asked him to make sure that they read the letter before they go in order to alert them to some security precautions including not taking with them any of the things that they had in Iran, such as their suitcases.
As for Hamzah, if you find my companion that we talked about, please send him to Peshawar and the surrounding area and ask him to arrange a house that can hold two families in addition to his family. He should stay there with Hamzah. If you did not find him yet, then please have a trusted Pakistani brother accompany him. Make sure to tell Hamzah that I am of the opinion that he needs to get out of Waziristan if he is there, and he should not go there if he is not there. What I said regarding Hamzah applies to Uthman and Muhammad if they come from Iran.The letter shows that Hamzah and some other members of the bin Laden family had reached Pakistan from Iran where they had been living in a secret compound outside Tehran.
Khairee Hussain, one of Osama bin Ladenís three wives, six of his children, and 11 of his grandchildren had fled to Iran from Afghanistan before the 9/11 terror attacks. Khairee Hussain, bin Ladenís eldest wife, who had joined him at his Abbottabad compound a few months before the American raid, is the suspected informer whose revelations led to the May 2 operation. During questioning by the Abbottabad Judicial Commission, Khairee claimed to have crossed the Pak-Iran border, then heading to Waziristan from where she was taken to Abbottabad.
A year after the 2011 raid that killed Osama, the American and Pakistani intelligence agencies are not only clueless about Hamzah bin Laden but also about his supposed safe house in Peshawar, if it was ever set up in accordance with bin Ladenís desire. Well-informed sources in Pakistani intelligence community say Hamzah keeps moving in and out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, just like al-Qaeda chief Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri and many other key leaders of the terrorist group.
Hamzah is wanted by the Americans for his alleged involvement in terrorist activities directed against the US-led Allied Forces in Afghanistan. In a 2005 videotape, titled The Mujahideen of Waziristanî, Hamzah was shown participating in an al-Qaeda assault against the Pakistani security forces in South Waziristan.
In September 2007, it was reported that Hamzah was again seen in the tribal belt that encompasses the Pak-Afghan border region, playing a major role with al-Qaeda forces. In July 2008, yet another video featuring Hamzah was posted on an al-Qaeda-linked website to mark the third anniversary of the July 7, 2005, London bombings, calling for the destruction of the United States and United Kingdom. And last but not the least, the slain chairperson of the PPP Ms Benazir Bhutto had named him as the leader of one of a number of gangs plotting to kill her. In a posthumous autobiography, Bhutto had stated that she believed Hamzah was plotting her assassination. Hamza, who was born in Saudi Arabia in 1989, is perhaps the most militant scion of Osama’s family. He was a violent jihadist even before his 18th birthday; that is why he is also known as "the Crown Prince of Terror”.Hmmmm......"The War On Terror is Over"........I beg to differ.Read the full story here.
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