by Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Idrees Ali and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri was killed over the weekend in a U.S.-led drone attack, Joe Biden said. This is the most severe blow inflicted by Washington on the jihadist organization since the execution of its founder, Osama bin Laden, in 2011.
Ayman al Zawahiri, of Egyptian nationality, a surgeon by training, is considered one of the masterminds of the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States which left some 3,000 dead.
US officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the strike was carried out at 6:18 a.m. local time (0148 GMT) in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
“Justice has now been served, and this terrorist leader is no more,” Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you are hiding, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and eliminate you.”
A senior US official told reporters that US intelligence had determined with a high degree of confidence that the man killed was Ayman al-Zawahiri.
“We don’t have DNA confirmation. We’re not going to get that confirmation. Quite frankly, based on multiple sources and methods that we’ve gathered information from, we don’t need it,” he said. White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby later said in an interview with CNN.
“We have visual confirmation, but we also have confirmation from other sources,” he said.
Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed while standing on the balcony of a Kabul home he shared with family members, the senior US official said, adding that no civilians were injured or injured. kill.
Joe Biden said Ayman al Zawahiri ordered or organized several attacks against American interests.
“Zawahiri continued to pose an active threat to U.S. nationals and interests and to U.S. national security,” the senior U.S. administration official said.
“His death constitutes a serious setback for Al Qaeda and will deteriorate the operational capacity of the group,” he continued during a conference call.
FIRST AMERICAN STRIKE IN AFGHANISTAN FOR A YEAR
In recent years, there have been repeated rumors of the death of the leader of Al Qaeda, whose health is said to have declined for a long time.
There is the question of the possible asylum granted to Ayman al Zawahiri by the Taliban, which took over power in Kabul in August 2021. The senior US administration official said that the Taliban were informed of the presence of Zawahiri in Kabul.
This is the first strike carried out by the United States in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of American soldiers and diplomats in August 2021. Washington assures that the United States is still able to deal with threats from Afghanistan, without a military presence on the ground.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed in a statement that a strike had taken place, denouncing it as a violation of “international principles”.
While rumors gave him on the run in rural areas of Pakistan or Afghanistan, Ayman al Zawahiri was found thanks to continuous counter-terrorism work, said the senior American official.
The United States determined this year that Ayman al-Zawahiri’s wife and children had taken up residence in a “hideout” in Kabul, before identifying the presence of Zawahiri himself at the scene, it said. -he adds.
Joe Biden has held meetings in recent weeks to analyze the intelligence. An operation project was proposed to him on July 1, then an updated version on July 25. The American president then authorized a strike against Ayman al Zawahiri as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden escaped the United States when it launched a military operation in Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the September 11 attacks.
Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in a US special forces operation in May 2011.
(Reporting Idrees Ali and Jeff Mason, with Alexandra Alper, Eric Beech, Jonathan Landay, Matt Spetalnick and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; French version Jean Terzian, editing by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)