Al Qaeda leader Al Zawahiri killed in US strike in Afghanistan, Biden says

Osama bin Laden's former deputy had a $25m bounty on his head

Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri has been killed in an American strike in Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden said on Monday.

"Justice has been delivered. This terrorist leader is no more," Mr Biden said from the White House.

Osama bin Laden's former deputy had been on the run for 20 years since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US that he is believed to have helped mastermind.

The Egyptian surgeon, 71, grew up in a comfortable Cairo household before turning to violent radicalism.

Osama bin Laden sits with his adviser Ayman Al Zawahiri during an interview with a Pakistani journalist in November 2001. Reuters

This handout image provided by the FBI on Tuesday shows a poster of Al Zawahiri after he was killed in a US counterterrorism operation. AFP

An Afghan soldier displays one of thousands of leaflets dropped by US military planes in December 2001, informing Afghans about the $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of bin Laden and Al Zawahiri. Getty

From left, Al Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith, bin Laden and Al Zawahiri appear in a video aired by Al Jazeera TV station in October 2001, at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden praised the 9/11 attacks and said the US would not know peace until it withdrew its troops from the Middle East. AFP

A still image from a video released by Al Qaeda’s media arm shows Al Zawahiri as he gives a eulogy for bin Laden in June 2011. AFP

A Pakistani man looks at an advertisement published by the US Embassy in Islamabad in January 2005, containing the names and pictures of the most-wanted Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, including bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and Mullah Omar. EPA

Armed masked men stand guard as bin Laden and Al Zawahiri address a news conference in May 1998 in Afghanistan. Getty

Al Zawahiri took the helm of Al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed in a covert US military raid in Pakistan in 2011.

A senior administration official said the US strike was conducted by a drone that fired two Hellfire missiles into the third floor of Al Zawahiri's Kabul home — killing him, but no one else.

"We are confident through our intelligence sources and methods including multiple streams of intelligence that we killed Zawahiri and no other individual," the official said.

The strike was conducted by the "US government", the official said. US outlets said the CIA had carried out the strike early on Sunday.

This is the first known US strike in Afghanistan since a failed drone attack in Kabul killed 10 civilians on August 29 last year, as the US rushed to leave the country after 20 years.

The US had said it would retain "over-the-horizon" strike capability despite no longer having a troop presence in Afghanistan.

With other senior Al Qaeda members, Al Zawahiri plotted the October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole navy ship in Yemen, which killed 17 US sailors and injured more than 30, Mr Biden said.

He was indicted in the US for his role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and wounded more than 5,000.

"He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests," Mr Biden said.

"Now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer."

US President Joe Biden addresses the nation on the killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri in a US drone strike. Reuters

The news comes just weeks before the first anniversary of the final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, leaving the country in the control of the Taliban insurgency that fought western forces over the preceding two decades.

The US withdrew after the Taliban signed the deal in Doha in 2020 in which they promised not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a launchpad for international terrorism.

But experts believe the group never broke their ties with Al Qaeda and the fact that the strike took place in central Kabul suggests the Taliban knew where Al Zawahiri had been staying.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that an attack was "carried out by American drones" and condemned the action.

“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the region,” Mr Mujahid said.

Al Qaeda has built up its presence in Afghanistan after US forces left the country in August last year, US Central Command chief Gen Frank McKenzie said last December.

Other US defence officials had also warned of a resurgence of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Al Zawahiri had a mixed reputation as Al Qaeda leader, with many regarding him as incompetent, mainly because of the proliferation of ISIS on his watch.

Mr Zelin said there was no obvious successor given that Al Qaeda has become increasingly decentralised, with many of its leaders no longer in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It'll really test the coherence of the organisation,” he told The National.

“The fact that the senior leadership is not all based in the same area, but spread out between South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

"It could take a minute for them to at least publicly declare who the next leader is.”

Al Zawahiri had been on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list for conspiracy to murder US nationals, and the US State Department offered a $25 million reward for information on his whereabouts.

For years, his death has been rumoured but he recently appeared in an April video praising an Indian Muslim student who wore a hijab in a protest against a ban against the traditional Islamic head covering.

Mr Biden is still in isolation after a Covid-19 infection and spoke from a balcony at the White House.

- With additional reporting by AFP

A hijacked commercial plane approaches the World Trade Centre shortly before crashing into the landmark skyscraper in New York on September 11, 2001. AFP

The South Tower of the World Trade Centre collapses sending dust and smoke into the streets in New York on September 11, 2001. Two planes crashed into the towers that later collapsed. AFP

A bird takes flight over the wreckage of the World Trade Centre on September 16, 2001, as clearing work continued on the site of the nation's worst terrorist attack. AFP

George W Bush, then US president, reacts after being told about the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

A hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 plane flies towards the World Trade Centre twin towers shortly before slamming into the south tower, as the north tower burns following an earlier attack in New York on September 11, 2001. Reuters

People run away as the second tower of World Trade Centre crumbles down after a plane hit the building on September 11, 2001, in New York. AFP

Firefighters and emergency workers battle fires as they search for survivors amid the debris of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 13, 2001. AFP

Firefighters make their way through the rubble of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, in New York, after two hijacked planes flew into the skyscrapers. AFP

Smoke and flames billow out of the World Trade Centre towers before their collapse on September 11, 2001, in New York. AFP

An American flag is posted in the rubble of the World Trade Centre on September 13, 2001, in New York. The search for survivors and the recovery of the victims continued in the days following the September 11 terrorist attack. AFP

People walk in the street in the area where the World Trade Centre buildings collapsed on September 11, 2001, after two planes slammed into the twin towers in what was then a 'suspected' terrorist attack. AFP

A plane hijacked by terrorists from Boston crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 200,1 in New York. AFP

A man falls to his death from the World Trade Centre after two planes hit the building on September 11, 2001, in New York. AFP

A firefighter breaks down as the World Trade Centre buildings collapsed on September 11, 2001, after two hijacked airplanes slammed into the twin towers in a terrorist attack. AFP