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

Al Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike carried out by the United States in the Afghan capital Kabul. Following the death of Zawahiri, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, US President Joe Biden said that “justice has been delivered”.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

An administration official said Zawahiri was on the balcony of a house in Kabul when he was targeted with two Hellfire missiles. “We are not aware of him ever leaving the safe house. We identified Zawahiri on multiple occasions for sustained periods of time on the balcony of where he was ultimately struck,” the official said.

President Biden, who gave green light for the strike on July 25, said: “On Saturday, at my direction, the United States successfully conducted an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed the emir of Al-Qaida Ayman al-Zawahiri. Justice has been delivered.”

Zawahiri became the head of Al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. In 2020, there were reports that Zawahiri had died, but later a video on Telegram surfaced suggesting that Zawahiri was still alive.