Bin Laden’s son reportedly killed by US strike in Pakistan
Has been linked to ’03 bombing in Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON - The second-oldest son of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden apparently was killed in a US missile strike inside Pakistan this year, US counterterrorism officials said yesterday.
Saad bin Laden, 27, an Al Qaeda member who has been linked to terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia, is believed to have been among the victims of a series of strikes by unmanned CIA Predator aircraft in the past few months, the officials said. If confirmed, he would be the closest relative to bin Laden killed by US forces since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
“There are some indications that he may be dead, but it’s not 100 percent certain,’’ said a Washington-based counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of CIA operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. He declined to say precisely when and where the strike occurred.
Confirming the identities of victims of such attacks is difficult because most occur in rugged, isolated regions largely under Taliban control. Although Al Qaeda often issues “martyrdom’’ statements announcing the deaths of operatives, there has been no such statement for bin Laden.
Saad bin Laden has long been associated with the terrorist group and is believed to have spent much of the past few years moving between Iran and the Pakistani border region. In addition to his alleged involvement in a 2003 Al Qaeda bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he also is said to have served as a communications link between the terrorist group and the Quds Force, an Iranian special operations group that has carried out attacks on US troops in Iraq.
Still, US officials played down his role as a leader of the terrorist group.
“If he is dead, Saad bin Laden was a small player with a big name,’’ the Washington-based counterterrorism official said.
The apparent death was first reported late Wednesday on the blog “The Long War Journal.’’
