Posted by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of al-Qaeda after his death in May 2011, was assassinated by a US drone strike in Afghanistan.
Assuring the accuracy of the claim, US President Joe Biden wrote on Instagram that the death of Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was a devastating blow to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, which was responsible for the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
In a special broadcast address from outside the White House, Biden declared that “justice has been served and this terrorist commander is no more.”
Al-Zawahiri, 71, an Egyptian surgeon with a $25 million bounty on his head, is thought to be one of the world’s deadliest terrorists. He is credited with helping to plan the 9/11 attacks, in which four civilian aircraft were hijacked and used to crash the World Trade Center twin towers in New York, the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania, killing about 3,000 people.
Al-Zawahiri moved into a safe house with his family in downtown Kabul, where he continued to make al-Qaida propaganda movies for several months until he met his end, according to White House sources. On numerous times, he was seen standing on a balcony.
At a meeting of important cabinet members and national security officials on July 25, President Biden is alleged to have given the order to assault the safe house after making sure that every precaution had been taken to ensure the operation would minimize risk and casualties.
Al-family Zawahiri’s members were there in the safe home throughout the attack, a White House official said, but they were neither targeted nor hurt.
“We have no evidence that the strike caused any harm to civilians. We took all reasonable precautions to prevent harm to civilians,” the spokesman added.