Hamza bin Laden marries 9/11 hijacker's daughter: Family
Hamza bin Laden, son of top terrorist Osama bin Laden, has married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, one of the main hijackers in the 9/11 attack, his family has said. "We have heard he has married the daughter of Atta," Hamza's half-brother Ahmad al-Attas said. "We're not sure where he is, but it could be Afghanistan." Hamza is widely considered the flagbearer of Laden's legacy.
About Osama bin Laden, one of history's most dangerous terrorists
Born into the wealthy Bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia, Osama founded the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in 1988. He first came to Pakistan to be trained as a mujahid to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Decades later, the network he built in Afghanistan-Pakistan helped him get safe haven after orchestrating the 9/11 attack, first openly from Taliban, and later clandestinely in Pakistan.
Osama was grooming Hamza to succeed him
Hamza, whom the US last year classified a "specially-designated global terrorist", was next in line to replace Osama, reports reveal. Letters written by 22-year-old Hamza to his father showed the young man is "bent on avenging" him. In his videos, he even uses sentences and words that Osama did. He has repeatedly urged followers to wage war on the US, UK, France and Israel.
Atta wasn't known to have marriages or children
This throws new light on Atta, an Egyptian national, who died piloting American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. He was known to have no marriages or children. The will he made five years before the attack didn't mention any dependents. However, he spent a large part of 2000 in Afghanistan, about which almost nothing is known.
Rest of Osama's family now in Saudi Arabia
Khalid, another of Osama's son, was killed in a raid in Abbottabad. A third, Saad, was killed in a strike in Afghanistan in 2009. Hamza is the son of one of Osama's three surviving wives, Khairiah Sabar. The rest of the remaining family stays in Saudi Arabia. The family claims to be in regular touch with Osama's mother, Alia Ghanem, but not with Hamza.
