US Kills Al Qaeda Leader Ayman Al Zawahiri
EMERGENCY DIGEST- Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been killed in a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan.
In a statement to reporters, a senior US official said, “over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant Al Qaeda target in Afghanistan. The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties.”
US President, Joe Biden, is expected to give a speech “on a successful counterterrorism mission at 7:30 p.m.”
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Al-Zawahiri, a physician and founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad before ascending to the top spot in the al-Qaeda network, was one of the main architects behind the devastating Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
He was previously indicted by the U.S. government for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.
The State Department had previously offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his apprehension.
Sunday’s drone strike is the first known CIA counterterrorism operation since Kabul fell to the Taliban last year.
