WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has confirmed the death of Hamza Bin Laden, the son and designated heir of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
“That’s my understanding,” Esper said in an interview late Wednesday with Fox News when asked if Hamza bin Laden was dead.
“I don’t have the details on that. And if I did I’m not sure how much I could share with you,” he added.
US media reported at the beginning of August that bin Laden was killed during the last two years in an operation that involved the United States, citing US intelligence officials.
But President Donald Trump and other senior officials have refused to confirm or deny it publicly.
“I don’t want to comment on it,” Trump told reporters when asked.
The 15th of Osama bin Laden’s 20 children and a son of his third wife, Hamza, thought to be about 30 years old, was “emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise,” the State Department said in announcing the reward.
Sometimes dubbed the “crown prince of jihad,” he had put out the audio and video messages calling for attacks on the United States and other countries, especially to avenge his father’s killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011, the department said.
That work made him important in attracting a new generation of followers to the extremist group which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US which left nearly 3,000 dead.
His father’s death in 2011 and the rise of the more virulent Daesh group saw Al-Qaeda lose currency with younger jihadists, but the group appears to have been plotting a stealthy comeback under leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
Pentagon chief confirms death of Qaeda’s Hamza bin Laden
Pentagon chief confirms death of Qaeda’s Hamza bin Laden
- Hamza had put out audio and video messages calling for attacks on the United States and other countries
- President Donald Trump and other senior officials had previously refused to confirm or deny news of his death publicly
Pakistan says IMF has not imposed new conditions under $7 billion bailout
- Finance ministry says measures cited as ‘new conditions’ are phased extensions of reforms already agreed
- Media described steps like civil servants’ asset disclosures and sugar industry deregulation as new demands
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Sunday some of the reform measures mentioned in the media and linked to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program are not “new conditions” imposed by the lender but extensions of commitments already agreed under the arrangement.
Local media and social platforms have described a series of IMF-linked structural benchmarks as fresh conditions under the $7 billion loan for Pakistan in recent weeks. News reports published and broadcast in India also mentioned 11 measures under the loan, describing them as new IMF demands imposed on the country.
“The Ministry of Finance has clarified the intent, context, and continuity of reform measures under Pakistan’s IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, particularly in response to recent commentary regarding so-called ‘new conditions,’” said an official statement circulated in Islamabad.
“The purpose is to reaffirm that the measures referenced are part of a phased, medium-term reform agenda agreed with the IMF, many of which are extensions or logical progressions of reforms already initiated by the Government of Pakistan,” it added.
The ministry said the EFF is designed to support medium-term structural reforms implemented in a sequenced manner, with each program review building on prior actions to meet policy objectives agreed at the outset.
It provided detailed clarification on 11 measures that had been characterized as new conditions, including public disclosure of asset declarations of civil servants, strengthening the operational effectiveness of the National Accountability Bureau, empowering provincial anti-corruption bodies through access to financial intelligence and facilitating foreign remittances.
Other measures cited included the development of the local currency bond market, deregulation of the sugar industry, a comprehensive reform roadmap for the Federal Board of Revenue, a medium-term tax reform strategy, phased privatization of power distribution companies, regulatory reforms to strengthen corporate compliance and contingency measures to address potential revenue shortfalls.
The ministry said several of these reforms had been embedded in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), a document detailing mutually agreed commitments, dating back to May 2024 and March 2025, including pledges related to tax policy, governance, energy sector restructuring and revenue mobilization.
“During discussions and negotiations with the IMF, the Government of Pakistan presents its planned policy reform initiatives,” the statement added. “Where the IMF assesses that these initiatives contribute to the agreed program objectives, they are incorporated into the MEFP.”
“As a result,” it continued, “many of the structural benchmarks and actions included in the latest MEFP are derived from reforms already undertaken or initiated by the Government of Pakistan, rather than being externally imposed or newly introduced conditions.”
The statement noted the measures outlined in the latest MEFP represent “continuity, sequencing and deepening of Pakistan’s agreed reform agenda” under the IMF loan, rather than the “imposition of abrupt or unprecedented conditions.”
