The US still
sees al Qaeda as a major threat and a
US intelligence assessment on the terror group released in January stated that senior leaders are "strengthening the network's global command structure" as part of its effort to inspire and encourage attacks against the West.
The group's "command and control is agile, active and able to respond," one US official who tracks the group told CNN earlier this year.
The first US official said the US had a role in Hamza bin Laden's death but did not provide details. The official added that the US government had recently received evidence that it believes corroborates his death.
The
New York Times reported that Hamza bin Laden had been killed in an operation within the last two years and at some point before the US offered a $1 million reward in February for information about his whereabouts. The last time he was heard from was on March 31, 2018, when al Qaeda released a tape of him discussing American-Saudi relations.
According to the senior official involved in international counterterrorism efforts, there is intelligence that Hamza bin Laden was most recently based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and met with Zawahiri there during the last two years. The official cautioned that the intelligence picture on bin Laden's movements was fragmentary and imprecise. Read more at
CNN