US offers $1M reward for info on bin Laden's son

WASHINGTON

The U.S. on Thursday offered up to $1 million for information leading to the identification or whereabouts of Osama bin Laden's son.

The State Department described Hamza bin Laden as a "key leader" within al-Qaeda who is growing in prominence within the U.S.-designated terror group.

The junior bin Laden has released audio and video messages on the internet calling for attacks against the West and has threatened revenge for his father's 2011 killing by U.S. forces, the department said in a statement.

Osama bin Laden was killed that year in a covert operation carried out in Abbottabad, Pakistan at a compound where the al-Qaeda leader was holed up.

Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York's Twin Towers, as well as the attack that day on the Pentagon.

Those attacks were carried out using three passenger planes hijacked by al-Qaeda operatives. A fourth plane, bound for either the White House or the Capitol, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake it from the hijackers.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day, including citizens of roughly 77 countries.

Hamza bin Laden was designated a global terrorist by the U.S. in January 2017, prohibiting U.S. individuals from conducting transactions with him.