WASHINGTON: The US killed Al Qaeda's top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike possibly in Afghanistan, in a counterterrorism operation, President Joe Biden announced Monday night.
In his brief remarks from the White House balcony, President Biden stated that "He carved a trail of murder and brutality against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats, and American interests." "Justice has now been delivered. This terrorist's leader is no more." The president said that al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul.
Our intelligence community found Zawahiri earlier this year after searching for him assiduously for years under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, Mr. Biden said. He had relocated to the centre of Kabul to be with his relatives.
The whereabouts of al-Zawahiri at a safehouse was confirmed by numerous, independent sources for the U.S. government, a senior administration official told reporters in a call on Monday evening. The strike was the end result of months and years of meticulous, diligent, and relentless work by counterterrorism officials.
The president said that he "ordered a precision strike that would eliminate him from the battlefield once and for all" after taking into account "clear and convincing proof" of al-whereabouts. Zawahiri's One week ago, he gave the give-ahead to "go get him."
The president declared that "none of his family members were harmed and there were no civilian casualties." According to the senior administration official, the U.S. government has a high degree of confidence that nobody else was killed in the strike.
The senior administration official said that as the US government focused on al-Zawahiri, the president received regular updates. The president was interested in learning more about the design of the safehouse's doors and windows once it was located to prevent further casualties. The president approved an air strike that would reduce civilian casualties as much as possible in a meeting on July 25, a senior administration official said.
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