The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said Monday in a speech from the White House.
“I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all,” Biden said.
“Justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” 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.”
Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of “international principles”.
Zawahiri, who just turned 71 years old, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden. Zawahiri and Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together, and he was one of America’s “most wanted terrorists”.
Al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian surgeon who took over Al Qaeda group in 2011. At one point, he acted as bin Laden’s personal physician.
He along with his family had moved into a safe house in downtown Kabul, the capital, according to White House officials.
