UNITED STATES: A CIA drone strike in Afghanistan over the weekend killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda, US authorities announced on Monday.
This is the most significant blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon with a $25 million bounty on his head, assisted in planning the attacks of September 11, 2001, which resulted in the deaths of close to 3,000 people.
On Sunday, the CIA carried out a drone hit in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, according to a US official who spoke on the record under anonymity.
“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant al Qaeda target in Afghanistan,” a senior administration official said.
“The operation was successful, and there were no civilian casualties,” the official added.
It was not immediately obvious how the US, which does not have forces present on the ground, was able to confirm Zawahiri’s demise.
Zawahiri’s death rumours have been circling many times in recent years, and he has long been thought to be ill.
His death raises concerns about whether Zawahiri was provided with protection by the Taliban after they overran Kabul in August 2021.
Since the United States ambassadors and military personnel left the nation in August 2021, this drone attack is the first known US strike inside Afghanistan.
The action could increase confidence in Washington’s claims that the country can still confront Afghan challenges without a military presence.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, stated that a strike had occurred and strongly denounced it as a breach of “international principles.”
Kabul was shaken by a thunderous explosion early morning on Sunday.
According to a Taliban source who asked to remain anonymous, at least one drone was seen flying above Kabul that morning.
Zawahiri’s attack on the US
Zawahiri had planned the attack on the USS Cole naval vessel in Yemen on October 12, 2000, together with other senior al Qaeda members, which resulted in the deaths of 17 US sailors and the injury of more than 30 more.
He was charged in the US for his involvement in the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998, which resulted in 224 fatalities and over 5,000 injuries.
Rumors of his death were dispelled by a video he recorded in April in which he commended an Indian Muslim woman for disobeying a law prohibiting the wearing of an Islamic head scarf.
After the September 11 attacks on the United States, US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan in late 2001, but both bin Laden and Zawahiri managed to escape captivity.
US troops killed Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
