US President Joe Biden has announced that Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has been killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan capital Kabul. He made the announcement while addressing the nation on the successful counter-terrorism operation.
Biden expressed hope that the killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Biden made the comments as he confirmed that a US drone strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
“He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens,” Biden said in an address from the White House formally announcing the operation. “This terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said.
Biden said US intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The president approved the operation last week and it was carried out on Sunday. Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, US officials said on Monday, the biggest blow to the militant 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. One of the U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the CIA carried out a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant al Qaeda target in Afghanistan,” a senior administration official said in a statement to reporters. “The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” the official added.