CIA Drone Kills Al Qaeda Leader Zawahiri In Afghanistan, Taliban Condemns Strongly And Assesses International Violations

MQ-9 Reaper AS drone illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

JAKARTA - A central intelligence agency (CIA) drone attack has killed al Qaeda leader Atman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan, the group's biggest hit since the death of founder Osama bin Laden in 2011, US officials said Monday.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, and surgeon, helped coordinate the September 11, 2001 attacks in which four hijacked civilian planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon near Washington, and the Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.

One of the US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a drone strike was carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.

"Over the weekend, the United States carried out counterterrorism operations against significant Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan," a senior administration official said.

"The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties," the official added.

A loud explosion echoed across Kabul Sunday morning.

"A house was hit by a rocket in Sherpoor. There were no casualties as the house was empty," Abdul Nafi Takor, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said earlier.

A Taliban source, requesting anonymity, said there were reports of at least one drone flying over Kabul that morning.

If confirmed, his death in a CIA drone strike raises questions about whether he was given shelter by the Taliban following the takeover of Kabul in August 2021, when the last US-led forces left Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the attack took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of "international principles." Read more

US President Joe Biden will deliver a speech on Monday at 7:30 p.m. local time about what the White House describes as a "successful counter-terrorism operation."

With other senior al Qaeda members, Zawahiri is believed to have planned the October 12, 2000 attack on the naval ship USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, and injuring more than 30 others, the Rewards for Justice website says.

He was indicted in the United States for his role in the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured more than 5,000 others.

Both bin Laden and Zawahiri had escaped capture when US-led forces toppled the Afghan Taliban government in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

It is known that Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by US forces in Pakistan.