President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States had killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks, in a drone strike in Kabul.
In a somber televised address, Biden said he gave the final go-ahead for the high-precision strike that successfully targeted Zawahiri in the Afghan capital over the weekend.
According to the official's account, the president gave his green light for the strike on 25 July - as he was recovering in isolation from COVID-19. Biden said there were no civilian casualties in the operation. He took over Al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011, and had a $25 million US bounty on his head.
The news comes a month 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. He was believed to be the main strategist - the real mastermind who steered operations, including the 11 September attacks, as well as bin Laden's personal doctor.
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