A US drone strike in Afghanistan has killed Osama bin
Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became the leader of al-Qaeda
following the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.
Confirming the report, President Joe Biden of the US
described the death of al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, as a huge blow to
the Al Qaeda terrorist network, masterminds of the September 11 2001 attacks on
US.
Al-Zawahiri, who is said to be one of the world’s most
deadliest terrorists, is an Egyptian surgeon with a $25m bounty on his head for
helping to mastermind the 9/11 attacks in which four civilian aircrafts were
hijacked and used to crush the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New
York, the Pentagon near Washington and a Pennsylvania field, killing about
3,000 people.
According to White House officials, Al-Zawahiri was spotted on a balcony on numerous occasions after he moved into a safe house with his family in downtown Kabul, where he continued to produce al-Qaida propaganda videos for several months before he met his waterloo.
President Biden was said to have ordered the attack on the safe house at a meeting of key cabinet members and national security officials on 25 July, having ensured that every step had been taken to ensure the operation would minimize risk and casualties.
“Two Hellfire missiles were fired at Ayman al-Zawahiri, who
was killed. We are confident through our intelligence sources and methods,
including multiple streams of intelligence, that we killed al-Zawahiri and no
other individual,” a Whitehouse official noted.
The official explained that though al-Zawahiri’s family
members were present in the safe house during the strike, they were not
targeted nor harmed.
“We have no indications that civilians were harmed in the
strike. We took every possible precaution to avoid civilian harm,” the official
further noted.
Barack Obama, Monday night, in his reaction to the
development said: “We make it clear again 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. We will never forget. We continue to
mourn every innocent life that was stolen on 9/11 and honor their memories.”
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