NYPost

bin LADEN SON MAY BE DEAD IN ATTACK

By DEBORAH ORIN

December 6, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - U.S. officials have received reports that American bombing in Afghanistan has killed either a son or son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, sources told The Post last night.

But the sources cautioned that the reports are unconfirmed and are still being checked out.

"We have some very tenuous, unconfirmed reports that a member of bin Laden's family - a son or perhaps a son-in-law - was killed. There are conflicting reports on who it was," a U.S. official said.

There were few details except that it supposedly happened last weekend. The location could not be learned.

The official declined to give names but said the reports don't point to Mohammed bin Laden - the terror kingpin's second-eldest son who's reportedly been groomed to be his ultimate successor.

Mohammed bin Laden is married to the daughter of Mohammed Atef - bin Laden's operational commander and No. 3 - who was killed by a U.S. bomb last month.

At Mohammed's wedding earlier this year, his brother Hamza, then just 10, read a poem - captured on video - warning Americans that they would face "terrible consequences if they chase my father."

Osama bin Laden is often reported to have 17 children by four wives, but sources say he may actually have as many as 27 children including four married sons.

Some of bin Laden's children and wives, but not all, are believed to be with him as America tries to hunt him down.

Mohammed, Hamza and two other brothers - Khaled and Laden - appeared in a video supposedly shot at the front in Afghanistan and released early last month to the Arabic-language TV station al Jazeera.

Mohammed was carrying a rocket launcher while Hamza read a poem in classical Arabic hailing the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, as a "symbol of manhood and pride."

The U.S. official also said that bin Laden's top deputy, Egyptian pediatrician Ayman al-Zawahiri, appears to be alive and well despite anti-Taliban opposition claims that he was seriously hurt by a U.S. bomb.

"We have no reason to believe he's dead - alas," the official said, but added that there are credible "indicators" that al-Zawahiri's wife and children may have been killed.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2001