Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri Killed In US Drone Strike In Aghanistan

Kabul: US President Joe Biden informed that Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan on July 30.

"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," tweeted President Biden.

In a video message, Biden reitarated that he had made a promise to the American people that the US would continue to conduct effective counter terrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. "We have done that," he said.

The US President said that al-Zawahiri was taking shelter at downtown Kabul to reunite with his family.

Officials said that the Al-Qaeda leader was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him.

Officials added that the drone strike that was conducted at 09:48 p.m. ET on July 30 was authorized by President Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers.

There were no American personnel on the ground in Kabul at the time of the strike.

It is to be noted that Zawahiri took over the reigns of al-Qaeda after the assassination of its founder Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

He was a close aide of Bin Laden and was his deputy. Zawahiri and Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together and he was one of the US's "most wanted terrorists".

The 71-year-old Egyptian, who also happened to be a surgeon and acted as Bin Laden's personal physician at one point, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the death of Bin Laden.

Also read: American drones strike different locations of Kabul: Afghan National Directorate of Security

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