Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda, was killed by a drone strike, according to President Joe Biden, who spoke from the White House on Monday.
“I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all,” Biden said.
11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri, who recently turned 71, had continued to be a prominent international emblem of the organization. He served as bin Laden’s personal physician at one point.
Zawahiri was killed in what a senior administration source described as “a precise tailored airstrike” using two Hellfire missiles while he was seeking refuge in central Kabul to reunite with his family.
The official stated on Monday that Biden had approved the drone strike, which was carried out at 9:48 p.m. ET on Saturday, following weeks of discussions with his Cabinet and significant advisers.
The official also stated that no American personnel were present in Kabul at the time of the strike.
Taliban figures were said to be aware of Zawahiri’s presence in the region.
They even took action to hide it after Saturday’s successful strike, restricting access to the safe house and hastily relocating members of his family, including his daughter and her children, who were purposefully not targeted during the strike and were unharmed.
Zawahiri’s terrorist operation came to a head on September 11, 2001, when the Pentagon and World Trade Center twin buildings were attacked, killing close to 3,000 people. After the passengers rebelled, a fourth hijacked plane, bound for Washington, crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
Since then, al-Zawahiri has increased his visibility by speaking out against the US and its allies on a number of videos and audiotapes. Terrorist incidents occurred soon after some of his tapes.
A reward of up to $25 million was provided by the US State Department for information that resulted in his capture.
