The United States has killed an al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri in a strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, the biggest blow to the terrorist group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York.
Zawahiri died after a U.S. drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul at 6:18 a.m. (0148 GMT) on Sunday.
Reacting to the incident, U.S president, Joe Biden said; “Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden, said in remarks from the White House on Monday night, August 1.
“No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Biden said Zawahiri had been the mastermind behind or played a key role in attacks on the USS Cole and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
“Zawahiri continued to pose an active threat to U.S. persons, interests and national security,” the official said on a conference call. “His death deals a significant blow to al Qaeda and will degrade the group’s ability to operate.”
U.S. intelligence determined with “high confidence” through multiple intelligence streams that the man killed was Zawahiri, one senior administration official told reporters. He was killed on the balcony of a “safe house” in Kabul that he shared with other members of his family. No other casualties occurred.
His death raises questions about whether Zawahiri received sanctuary from the Taliban following their takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
The drone attack is the first known U.S. strike inside Afghanistan since U.S. troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021 and happened without a military presence in the country.
Credit: LindaIkejiblog