The United States on Thursday added assassinated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Ibrahim al-Banna to its counter-terrorism list, which prohibits its citizens from doing business with them.
The United State and Treasury Departments listed the two as global terrorists. A statement issued by the State Department said al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri declared Hamza a member of the extremist group. Al-Banna provides Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with military and security expertise.
In 2011, a decade after the September 11 attacks, US forces had killed Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to US think tank Brookings Institution, Hamza provides the al-Qaeda a “new face” with direct links to its founder. “He [Hamza] is an articulate and dangerous enemy,” Bruce Riedel of Brookings had said.
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