CIA Kills Al Qaeda Leader: Caught After Identifying Wife-Child, Often On Balcony And Making Videos

Osama bin Laden (left) with Ayman al Zawahiri. (Wikimedia Commons/Hamid Mir)

JAKARTA - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri has been identified after US intelligence identified his wife and children, leading to the CIA attack that killed him on Sunday.

Zawahiri succeeded bin Laden as Al Qaeda leader after years as its chief organizer and strategist, but his lack of charisma and competition from rival Islamic State militants crippled his ability to inspire spectacular attacks in the West.

Until the announcement by the United States, Zawahiri was rumored to be in Pakistan's tribal areas or inside Afghanistan.

Previously, there had been rumors of Zawahiri's death several times in recent years, and he had long been reported to be in poor health.

A video released in April in which she praised an Indian Muslim woman for defying a ban on wearing the headscarf dispelled rumors that she had died.

Senior US officials said Zawahiri's discovery was the result of counterterrorism hard work. The United States identified this year that Zawahiri's wife, daughter and children had moved to a safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The official further revealed that later Zawahiri was also identified as being in the same house, a place that was used as a safe house.

"Once Zawahiri arrived at the scene, we didn't know he had ever left the safe house," the official said.

"He was identified several times on the balcony, where he was eventually hit. He continued to produce videos from home and some may have been released after his death, the official said.

In recent weeks, Biden has convened officials to scrutinize intelligence he received about Zawahiri. Throughout May and June, President Biden received information updates.

On July 1, President Biden was briefed on the operation proposed by intelligence leaders. On July 25, President Biden received an updated report, authorizing attacks when the opportunity arose, government officials said.

"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.

Reported earlier, President Joe Biden said the United States succeeded in killing Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in an attack in Afghanistan over the weekend.

US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Zawahiri was killed following a US drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul at 6:18 a.m. local time Sunday.

"Now justice has been served, and this terrorist leader no longer exists," said President Biden of the White House

"No matter how long, wherever you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out," he said.

US intelligence determined with "high confidence" through multiple intelligence streams that the person killed was Zawahiri, a senior administration official told reporters.

It is known that, along 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 injured more than 30 others, the Rewards for Justice website says.

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

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