US kills Al-Qaeda chief Zawahiri in drone strike, justice delivered, Biden

Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was killed in a drone strike carried out by the US in the Afghan capital Kabul. US President Joe Biden announced on Monday (local time). The strike to eliminate al-Zawahiri was carried out on Saturday, Biden added, underlining that no family member of the slain terrorist was harmed during the operation. In a televised address, US President Joe Biden said that he hoped Zawahiri's death would bring "closure" to families of the 3,000 people killed in the United States on 9/11. "Justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more", the US president said.

Officials said Zawahiri was on the balcony of his Kabul residence when he was targeted with two Hellfire missiles on July 31, adding that President Biden gave his go-ahead to the operation on July 25.  In the wake of 9/11, the US State Department announced a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to capture of al-Zawahiri. US officials called Zawahiri's presence in the Afghan capital Kabul a "clear violation" of a deal the Taliban had signed with the US in Doha in 2020 that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Taliban promised not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a launchpad for terrorism, but experts believe the group never broke their ties with Al-Qaeda.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the attack took place on Sunday and condemned it as a violation of "international principles" and the 2020 agreement on a US troop withdrawal. An Egyptian national, Ayman al-Zawahiri was born on June 19, 1951, in Giza in the African nation. In June 2011, he was announced as Al-Qaeda's second 'General Emir’, following the killing of his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, in a US raid in Pakistan's Abbottabad in May that year.