Saudi Arabia has stripped a son of deceased former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden of his citizenship, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement published by state media.

The decision was made by a royal order in November, according to the statement, which ran in Umm Al-Qura newspaper on Friday.

The move comes a day after the United States announced a reward of up to one million dollars for information on the younger bin Laden's whereabouts.

Described by the US State Department as an "emerging leader" within al-Qaeda, Hamza bin Laden has been classified as a "terrorist" by the US since 2017.

He has released audio and video messages on the internet calling for attacks on Western capitals and has threatened revenge for his father's killing in 2011 by US forces, according to a State Department statement.

He has also threatened to target US citizens abroad and urged Saudi tribes to unite with al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch to fight against the Saudi state.

Osama bin Laden was killed in a covert operation at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the former al-Qaeda leader had gone into hiding.

Hamza bin Laden's current whereabouts are unknown and it is not clear whether he holds other citizenship.

"We do believe he's probably in the Afghan-Pakistan border and he'll cross into Iran. But he could be anywhere though in ... southcentral Asia," Michael Evanoff, the US assistant secretary for diplomatic security said on Thursday. (Aljazeera)

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