US officials said the top leader of the terrorist organization was killed in Afghanistan during drone strikes over the weekend, according to media reports.
Ayman al-Zawahri took over al-Qaida’s leadership following the death of Osama bin Laden
Al-Qaida’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan, US officials said on Monday.
The reports came ahead of a planned address by US President Joe Biden, who is due to hold a speech later in the evening.
The Associated Press news agency reported, citing an unnamed source, that the US carried out the strike over the weekend, but delayed releasing the information until his death could be confirmed.
White House officials did not confirm that al-Zawahiri was killed, but said the Biden would speak about a “successful” counterterrorism operation against a significant al-Qaida target. They added that “there were no civilian casualties.”
Who is Ayman al-Zawahiri?
The al-Qaida chief was born in 1951 to a prominent upper-class family in Cairo.
As a teenager, he joined the banned Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood.
He was among hundreds of militants arrested and accused of involvement in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Although he was cleared of the charge, he spent three years in an Egyptian prison on charges of weapons possession — an experience that is said to have radicalized him.
He traveled to Afghanistan after his release, where he got to know bin Laden and participated in the battle against Soviet troops.
Zawahiri rose to become second-in-command of al-Qaida. As opposed to bin Laden, he was highly visible, appearing in several video messages over the years.
Since the killing of bin Laden by US forces in 2011, al-Zawahiri topped the list of most-wanted fugitives by the FBI.
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