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Reports: Hamza bin Laden Killed in Operation Involving US

Osama bin Laden's son Hamza. File photo
Osama bin Laden's son Hamza. File photo
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Reports: Hamza bin Laden Killed in Operation Involving US

Osama bin Laden's son Hamza. File photo
Osama bin Laden's son Hamza. File photo

Osama bin Laden's son Hamza, chosen heir to the leadership of al-Qaeda, has been killed, American officials said Wednesday.

Questioned by reporters in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump did not confirm or deny the matter.

"I don't want to comment on it," he said.

But US media, including the New York Times, quoted officials as saying that they had confirmation Hamza bin Laden was killed during the last two years in an operation involving the United States.

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

In February, the State Department said it was offering 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.

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Series of Ethiopia Earthquakes Trigger Evacuations

People view a truck that fell off the Gelan Bridge as it was returning from a wedding ceremony in the southern Sidama region of Ethiopia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Str)
People view a truck that fell off the Gelan Bridge as it was returning from a wedding ceremony in the southern Sidama region of Ethiopia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Str)
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Series of Ethiopia Earthquakes Trigger Evacuations

People view a truck that fell off the Gelan Bridge as it was returning from a wedding ceremony in the southern Sidama region of Ethiopia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Str)
People view a truck that fell off the Gelan Bridge as it was returning from a wedding ceremony in the southern Sidama region of Ethiopia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Str)

Evacuations were underway in Ethiopia Saturday after a series of earthquakes, the strongest of which, a 5.8-magnitude jolt, rocked the remote north of the Horn of Africa nation.

The quakes were centered on the largely rural Afar, Oromia and Amhara regions after months of intense seismic activity, AFP reported.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Ethiopia's government Communication Service said around 80,000 people were living in the affected regions and the most vulnerable were being moved to temporary shelters.

"The earthquakes are increasing in terms of magnitude and recurrences," it said in a statement, adding that experts had been dispatched to assess the damage.

The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission said 20,573 people had been evacuated to safer areas in Afar and Oromia, from a tally of over 51,000 "vulnerable" people.

Plans were underway to move more than 8,000 people in Oromia "in the coming days", the agency said in a statement.

The latest shallow 4.7 magnitude quake hit just before 12:40 pm (0940 GMT) about 33 kilometers north of Metehara town in Oromia, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

The earthquakes have damaged houses and threatened to trigger a volcanic eruption of the previously dormant Mount Dofan, near Segento in the northeast Afar region.

The crater has stopped releasing plumes of smoke, but nearby residents have left their homes in panic.

Earthquakes are common in Ethiopia due to its location along the Great Rift Valley, one of the world's most seismically active areas.

Experts have said the tremors and eruptions are being caused by the expansion of tectonic plates under the Great Rift Valley.