A US drone strike in Afghanistan has killed the top al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Joe Biden announced late on Monday.
The US president described the death of al-Zawahiri, who was Osama bin Laden’s deputy and successor, as a major blow to the terrorist network behind the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
“Justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” Mr Biden said in a live televised address from the White House. “People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.”
The CIA strike will be seen as a proof of the US ability to conduct long-range operations despite last year’s military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. But it also raised questions over al-Qaeda’s continued presence in the country since the Taliban regained power.
On Tuesday the White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, told CNN the US had “visual confirmation” Zawahiri was dead. “We do not have DNA confirmation,” Kirby said. “We’re not going to get that confirmation. Quite frankly, based on multiple sources and methods … we don’t need it.”
Al-Zawahiri, one of the world’s most wanted men, and his family had moved into a safe house in downtown Kabul, the capital, according to White House officials. He was spotted on a balcony on numerous occasions over several months and continued to produce al-Qaeda propaganda videos, some of which may yet appear posthumously.
Mr Biden was personally involved in meetings to plan a potential strike against him during May, June and July, a senior administration official said on a conference call with reporters.
The president “asked detailed questions about what we knew and how we knew it. Importantly, he examined closely the model of al-Zawahiri’s house that the intelligence community had built and brought into the White House situation room for briefings on this issue”.
[ Who was Ayman al-Zawahiri? From Cairo physician to al-Qaeda leaderOpens in new window ]
The president eventually ordered a strike on the safe house at a meeting of key cabinet members and national security officials on July 25th. It was carried out on Saturday by an unmanned aerial vehicle.
The official continued: “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.”
The official added that al-Zawahiri’s family members were present in other parts of the safe house at the time of the strike, were not targeted and were unharmed. “We have no indications that civilians were harmed in the strike. We took every possible precaution to avoid civilian harm.”
The official said members of the Taliban took action after the strike to conceal al-Zawahiri’s former presence at the location, moving swiftly to remove his wife, daughter and her children to another location.
“We have identified a concerted effort to restrict access to the safe house in the surrounding area for hours after the strike. The safe house used by al-Zawahiri is now empty.”
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million (€24 million) bounty on his head, helped co-ordinate the September 11th, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Survivors of those killed in those attacks published a statement on Zawahiri’s killing, expressing gratitude about the al-Qaida leader’s death but expressing a desire to see Saudi Arabia held to account for its alleged role in the terror plot. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals.
“This news is also a reminder that in order to achieve full accountability for the murders of thousands on September 11 2001, President Biden must also hold the Saudi paymasters accountable for killing our loved ones,” the national chairperson of 9/11 Families United, Terry Strada, said in a statement.
Referring to a controversial trip Biden took to Saudi Arabia last month where Biden fist bumped the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Strada added: “The financiers are not being targeted by drones, they are being met with fist pumps and hosted at golf clubs. If we’re going to be serious about accountability, we must hold everyone accountable.”
Barack Obama said on Monday night the successful attack was a tribute to Biden’s leadership, and to intelligence operatives “who have been working for decades for this moment”.
He added: “Tonight’s news is also proof that it’s possible to root out terrorism without being at war in Afghanistan. And I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda.”
His death raises questions about whether Zawahiri received sanctuary from the Taliban following their takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
The drone attack is the first known US strike inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021. — Agencies