Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri killed in US drone strike in Afghanistan

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who played a key role in the 9/11 attacks and later established the terror group’s regional affiliate in the Indian subcontinent, was killed in a US “precision strike” in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, the biggest blow to the global terror network since the death of its founder, Osama bin Laden, in Pakistan in 2011.

Zawahiri, who took over as leader of al-Qaeda after bin Laden’s death, was killed in a CIA drone strike on Saturday evening at a house in Kabul where he was seeking refuge to reunite with his family, US President Joe Biden said on Monday, declaring that “justice has been delivered, and this terrorist is no more.”

The 71-year-old Egyptian surgeon was bin Laden’s second-in-command during the 9/11 attacks and took over as al-leader Qaeda’s after his death. He had a USD 25 million bounty on his head. 11 years after the US killed bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan’s Abbottabad in May 2011, he remained a visible international symbol of the terror group.

“I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all,” Biden said in a White House speech on Monday. Officials say Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone launched two missiles at him. Other members of the family were present, but they were unharmed, and only Zawahiri was killed.

“He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11 and was one of the main perpetrators of the attacks that killed 2,977 people on American soil.” “He was the mastermind of attacks against Americans for decades,” said Biden. As Zawahiri was isolated with a rebound case of Covid-19, the US president was kept informed of the strike. On Monday, Biden spoke from the Blue Room Balcony at the White House. “Justice has been served, and this terrorist leader is no longer alive.” “People all over the world no longer have to fear the vicious and determined killer,” said Biden.

“The United States continues to demonstrate our determination and capacity to defend the American people from those who seek to harm us.” “We make it clear once more tonight that 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,” he was quoted by CNN as saying.

Biden credited the precision strike targeting to the nation’s intelligence community’s “extraordinary persistence and skill.” “Earlier this year, our intelligence community located Zawahiri – he moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family,” Biden said. His death will bring closure to the families of the 9/11 victims, Biden said, adding that Zawahiri was also responsible for other acts of violence, such as the suicide bombing of the USS Cole naval destroyer in Aden in October 2000, which killed 17 US sailors.

The strike comes one year after Vice President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, prompting Taliban forces to seize control of the war-torn country. According to the New York Times, Zawahiri comes from a prominent Egyptian family. Rabia’a al-Zawahiri, his grandfather, was an imam at Cairo’s prestigious al-Azhar University. His great-uncle, Abdel Rahman Azzam, was the Arab League’s first secretary.

He was a key figure in the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and he later helped plan the deadliest terror attack on American soil, when hijackers turned US airliners into missiles. Zawahiri announced the formation of Al-regional Qaeda’s affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), in September 2014, taking advantage of safe havens in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

“A new branch of Al-Qaeda was established in the Indian subcontinent – Qaeda al-Jihad, seeking to raise the flag of jihad…and restore Islamic rule across the Indian subcontinent,” Zawahiri said at the time. Asim Umar, an Indian and former member of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, led al-regional Qaeda’s affiliate. In September 2019, Umar was killed in a joint US-Afghan military raid in the Afghan province of Helmand.

A Taliban spokesman called the US operation to assassinate Zawahiri a clear violation of international law.

“Such actions are a repetition of failed experiences over the last 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan, and the region,” the spokesman said, according to the BBC.

“An airstrike was carried out on a residential house in Sherpur area of Kabul city on July 31,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a series of tweets. “The nature of the incident was not apparent at first,” he said, but the Islamic Emirate’s security and intelligence services investigated the incident and “initial findings determined that the strike was carried out by an American drone.” When the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Zawahiri was constantly on the move. At one point, he narrowly escaped a US assault in Afghanistan’s rugged, mountainous Tora Bora region, which killed his wife and children.

He made his public debut as a Muslim militant while incarcerated for his role in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

“We want to reach out to the entire world.” What exactly are we? In a jailhouse interview, he asked, “Who are we?” Zawahiri, a young doctor at the time, was already a committed terrorist who had been plotting for years to overthrow Egypt’s government and replace it with fundamentalist Islamic rule. After Sadat made peace with Israel, he proudly supported Sadat’s assassination.

He was imprisoned for three years following Sadat’s assassination and claimed to have been tortured while there. Following his release, he travelled to Pakistan, where he treated wounded mujahideen fighters who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. That’s when he met bin Laden and discovered a common cause, according to CNN.

“We are working with brother bin Laden,” he said in May 1998, announcing the merger of his terror group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, with al-Qaeda.

“We’ve known him for over ten years. “We fought with him in Afghanistan,” he explained. The two terror leaders signed a fatwa, or declaration, in which they stated, “The judgement to kill and fight Americans and their allies, whether civilians or military, is an obligation for every Muslim.” Zawahiri was also linked to the 1997 attacks on foreign tourists in Luxor, Egypt, which killed 62 people. In 1999, he was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court.