'He's alive!' Online jihadists question reports of Hamza Bin Laden's death

Jihadist sympathisers have cast doubts on reports that Osama bin Laden's son Hamza - the heir to the al-Qaeda mantle - has been killed.

High profile al-Qaeda supporters have questioned the validity of the news and said they will not believe it until official confirmation from the extremist group, BBC Arabic reported on Monday.

"We know nothing about the veracity of this claim. We'll wait for denial or confirmation from the general command of al-Qaeda," one supporter was quoted as saying online.

Another well-known al-Qaeda backer said the reports could be part of a trick to encourage supporters to reveal his whereabouts.

NBC News said three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden's death, but gave no details of the place or date.

The New York Times subsequently cited two officials saying they had confirmation that he was killed during the last two years in an operation that involved the US.

Both reports suggested that bin Laden may have been killed well before the US State Department announced a $1 million bounty on his head in February 2019.

	Osama bin Laden had a total of 20 children  [AFP]

The 15th of Osama bin Laden's 20 children and a son of his third wife, Hamza, thought to be about 30-years-old, was "emerging as a leader in the al-Qaeda franchise," the State Department said in announcing the reward.

Sometimes dubbed the "crown prince of jihad, he had put out audio and video messages calling for attacks on the United States and other countries, especially to avenge his father's killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011, the department said.

Documents seized in the raid on his father's house in Abbottabad suggested Hamza was being groomed as heir to the al-Qaeda leadership.

US forces also found a video of the wedding of Hamza to the daughter of another senior al-Qaeda official that is believed to have taken place in Iran.

Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts have never been pinpointed. He was believed to have been under house arrest in Iran but reports suggest he may also have resided in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

Al-Qaeda, the group behind the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States,has seen its prominence as a radical Islamist group fade over the past decade in the shadow of the Islamic State group.

But the proliferation of branches and associated extreme Islamist groups in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere have underscored its continuing potency.

In 2017 he was placed on the US terrorist blacklist, seen as a potent future figurehead for the group then led by Osama bin Laden's former deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.