US kills al-Qaeda chief in drone strike in Afghanistan: report

The United States has killed al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to US media outlets, in what the White House announced Monday was a “successful” operation against a target in Afghanistan.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who went on to become one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, has been identified as the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

He was on the run since then, and took over al-Qaeda in 2011 after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. The United States placed a $25 million bounty on his head.

The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN were among the outlets reporting the identity of the target, citing unnamed sources. President Joe Biden was due to deliver a televised address on the operation later on Monday.

This will be the first known over-the-horizon strike by the United States on an al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan since US forces withdrew from the country on August 31, 2021.

US officials did not specify where the attack took place in Afghanistan.

On Saturday morning, the Afghan Interior Ministry denied social media reports of a drone strike in Kabul, telling AFP that a rocket hit “an empty house” in the capital, leaving no casualties.

In Kabul early Tuesday, however, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that a residence in the city’s Sherpur area was “air raided”.

His tweet said, “The nature of the incident was not disclosed earlier. The Islamic Emirate’s security and intelligence agencies investigated the incident and in their preliminary investigation found that the attack was carried out by a US drone.”

In recent months the Taliban have largely withheld media coverage following security incidents and have often denied or underestimated any casualties.