Analysis | In the age of Islamic State, al-Qaeda tries comeback with bin Laden’s favourite son as mouthpiece

Decimated by US military strikes and overshadowed for years by its terrorist rival, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda appears to be signalling the start of a violent new chapter in the group’s history

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No confirmed photographs exist of the young terrorist Hamza bin Laden (right) since his boyhood, when he was portrayed multiple times as an adoring son posing with his famous father. File photo: Handout

Published: 12:35pm, 28 May 2017Updated: 11:02pm, 28 May 2017

The voice is that of a soft-spoken 28-year-old, but the message is vintage Osama bin Laden, giving orders to kill. When the audio recording began turning up on jihadist websites two weeks ago, it was as if the dead terrorist was channelling himself through his favourite son.

“Prepare diligently to inflict crippling losses on those who have disbelieved,” Hamza bin Laden, scion of the September 11, 2001, mastermind, says in a thin baritone that eerily echoes his father.

“Follow in the footsteps of martyrdom-seekers before you.”

The recording, first aired May 13, is one in a string of recent pronouncements by the man who many terrorism experts regard as the crown prince of al-Qaeda’s global network. Posted just two weeks before Monday’s suicide bombing in Manchester, the message includes a specific call for attacks on European and North American cities to avenge the deaths of Syrian children killed in airstrikes.

Aa young boy, left, identified as Hamza bin Laden holds what appears to be a piece of US helicopter wreckage in Ghazni, Afghanistan in 2001. File photo: AP

The recording provides fresh evidence of ominous changes underway within the embattled organisation that declared war against the West nearly two decades ago, according to US, European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials and terrorism experts. Decimated by US military strikes and overshadowed for years by its terrorist rival, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda appears to be signalling the start of a violent new chapter in the group’s history, led by a new bin Laden - one who has vowed to seek revenge for his father’s death.

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Analysis | In the age of Islamic State, al-Qaeda tries comeback with bin Laden’s favourite son as mouthpiece

Analysis | In the age of Islamic State, al-Qaeda tries comeback with bin Laden’s favourite son as mouthpiece