The Bin Laden family says Osama's youngest son went to Afghanistan to 'avenge' his father
- The family of Osama Bin Laden, the infamous terrorist behind the September 11 attacks, finally spoke out about their family's dark legacy.
- In an interview with The Guardian on Friday they said that extremism may still run in their family.
- They said Bin Laden's youngest son, Hamza, has gone to Afghanistan to "avenge" his father.
- They have mostly tried to live quiet lives away from the spotlight, but their extremist son could force them to relive the horrors of having a terrorist in the family.
The family of Osama Bin Laden, the infamous terrorist behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, finally spoke out about their family's dark legacy in an interview with The Guardian on Friday - and they've revealed that the family's involvement with terrorism hasn't ended yet.
Living sheltered lives as a prominent but controversial family in their native Saudi Arabia, several of the family members opened up about Bin Laden's childhood, and his eventual transformation into one of the most notorious figures in recent history.
But while Osama's career as a terrorist and Al Qaeda leader came to an end at the hands of US Navy SEALs in a midnight raid on his hideout in Pakistan, his militancy has taken root in his youngest child.
Bin Laden's family believes his youngest son, Hamza, has followed in his father's footsteps by traveling to Afghanistan, where the US, Afghanistan's national army, and NATO have been locked in a brutal war with Islamists since shortly after the Twin Towers came down.
Hamza, officially designated a terrorist by the US, took his family by surprise with his endorsement of militant Islam.
"We thought everyone was over this," Hassan Bin Laden, an uncle of Hamza told The Guardian.
"Then the next thing I knew, Hamza was saying, 'I am going to avenge my father.' I don't want to go through that again. If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him, 'God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don't retake the steps of your father. You are entering horrible parts of your soul.'"
After the September 11 attacks, some parts of Bin Laden's family remained in touch while others lead a quiet life under government and international intelligence agency supervision in Saudi Arabia, to which they are confined.
Many of the Bin Ladens have sought to put their notorious history behind them by avoiding media and politics, but Hamza's embrace of his father's ideas means the family's brush with terrorism may have come back to haunt them.