US offers Rs 7 cr reward to find bin Laden son
Washington, Mar 1: The United States on Thursday offered a USD 1 million reward for information on a son of late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, seeing him as an emerging face of extremism.
The location of Hamza bin Laden, sometimes dubbed the "crown prince of jihad," has been the subject of speculation for years with reports of him living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria or under house arrest in Iran.
"Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ leader Osama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise," a State Department statement said, referring to Al-Qaeda.
The State Department said that it would offer USD 1 million for information leading to his location in any country.
Bin Laden, who according to the United States is around 30, has threatened attacks against the United States to avenge the 2011 killing of his father, who was living in hiding in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, by US special forces.
US intelligence agencies increasingly see the younger bin Laden as a successor to his father for the mantle of global jihad, especially as the even more extreme Islamic State group is down to its last sliver of land in Syria.
In 2015, bin Laden released an audio message urging jihadists in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight in the war-torn country paves the way to "liberating Palestine."
And in a message a year later, following in the footsteps of his father, he urged the overthrow of the leadership in their native Saudi Arabia.
Osama bin Laden's three surviving wives and his children were quietly allowed to return to Saudi Arabia after his killing.
But Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts have been a matter of dispute. He is believed to have spent years along with his mother in Iran, despite Al-Qaeda's strident denunciations of the Shiite branch of Islam that dominates the country.
Observers say that the clerical regime in Tehran kept him under house arrest as a way to maintain pressure on rival Saudi Arabia as well as on Al-Qaeda, dissuading the Sunni militants from attacking Iran.
One of Hamza bin Laden's half-brothers told The Guardian last year that Hamza's whereabouts were unknown but that he may be in Afghanistan.
He also said that Hamza bin Laden married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed some 3,000 people and sparked the US intervention in Afghanistan.
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Four doctors in Kerala booked for birth of newborn with genetic disorders
Alappuzha, (Kerala) (PTI): Four doctors in Kerala have been booked for allegedly failing to detect genetic disorders in a newborn while it was still in the mother's womb, the police said on Thursday.
The accused include two female doctors attached to the Kadappuram Government Women and Child Hospital in Alappuzha, along with two doctors from private diagnostic labs, according to the Alappuzha South police.
The police registered an FIR on Tuesday based on a complaint lodged by Anish and Surumi, a couple from Alappuzha.
They alleged that the doctors failed to detect or disclose the genetic abnormalities during prenatal scans, instead assuring them that the reports were normal.
The couple also claimed that they were shown the baby only four days after delivery, according to the complaint.
The FIR stated that Surumi, 35, was undergoing treatment for her third pregnancy at Kadappuram Women and Child Hospital.
On October 30, Surumi was admitted for delivery. However, she was referred to Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) in Vandanam, Alappuzha, citing the absence of fetal movement and heartbeat, the FIR said.
On November 8, the baby was delivered following surgery at MCH and was found to have severe internal and external deformities, the FIR stated.
Meanwhile, one of the accused doctors, responding to the allegations, said she had treated Surumi only during the initial months of her pregnancy.
"I provided care for three months at the beginning of her pregnancy. The reports shown to me indicated issues with the fetus's growth," she said.
The doctors associated with the diagnostic labs, however, maintained that there were no errors in the scan reports.
The police registered a case invoking Sections 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 125 (b) (where grievous hurt is caused, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the accused.
