US expected to make announcement about Bin Laden's son Hamza soon

The US government is expected to make an announcement shortly about Hamza bin Laden, the son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a US official said on Wednesday after NBC News reported the United States has intelligence the son is dead.

The US official provided no further details. Earlier, NBC News cited three US officials as saying that the United States had obtained intelligence that Hamza bin Laden is dead, saying that they would not provide details of where or when he died, or whether the US played a role in his death.

Asked earlier if he had intelligence that bin Laden's son had been killed, US President Donald Trump told reporters: "I don't want to comment on it." Separately, the White House declined comment on whether any an announcement was imminent.

Hamza, believed to be about 30 years old, was at his father’s side in Afghanistan before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and spent time with him in Pakistan after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan pushed much of al Qaeda’s senior leadership there, according to the Brookings Institution.

In  2017, US State Department designated Hamza as a global terrorist.

The State Department had previously offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading "to the identification or location in any country" of Hamza, calling him a key al Qaeda leader.

In March, Saudi Arabia announced it had stripped Hamza bin Laden of his citizenship, saying the decision was made by a royal order in November, 2018.

Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces who raided his compound in Pakistan in 2011. Hamza was thought to be under house arrest in Iran at the time, and documents recovered from the compound indicated that aides had been trying to reunite him with his father.