Late last month, US media quoted unnamed sources as claiming that Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaeda terror group leader, is dead. The sources refused to elaborate and US authorities have yet to make an official statement on the matter.

US intelligence agencies are bracing themselves for possible retaliation from al-Qaeda after the alleged death of Osama bin Laden’s son, The Mirror cited unnamed security sources as saying.

“There is a strong will still out there for another 9/11 so the bin Laden nightmare is far from over – even though it is likely the founder’s only possible terrorist heir has been killed,” one of the sources claimed, referring to Hamza bin Laden.

The source described Hamza as inexperienced “operationally” but added that he was as “irresistible” as “a scion of the most famous terror mastermind the world has known”.

© AP Photo / CIA In this image from video released by the CIA, Hamza bin Laden is seen as an adult at his wedding

The world’s number one terrorist hoped that his son would someday “take up the challenge of leading al-Qaeda so he could not be allowed by the West to rally support for a new and more dangerous al-Qaeda”, the source claimed.

The remarks come after NBC News cited three US officials as saying in late July that Hamza bin Laden is dead. Officials did not elaborate on where or when Hamza died or whether the US played any role in his death.

Hamza, who earlier urged al-Qaeda followers to attack the US for killing his father, was regarded as the likely successor to the terrorist group’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The US State Department, in turn, offered a reward of $1 million for information on the whereabouts of bin Laden’s son.

Osama bin Laden was killed on 2 May 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan during a US Navy SEAL special operation following a 10-year manhunt. It was initiated as part of a response to the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 that claimed the lives of about 3,000 people.

*al-Qaeda, a terrorist group banned in Russia and some other countries