JAKARTA - President Joe Biden said the United States had killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in an attack in Afghanistan over the weekend.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who has a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
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 is no more," said President Biden of the White House.
"No matter how long, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and bring you out."
US intelligence determined with "high confidence" through multiple intelligence streams that the person killed was Zawahiri, a senior administration official told reporters.
He was killed on the balcony of a 'safe house' in Kabul which he shared with other members of his family. No other casualties occurred.
President Biden said Zawahiri had been behind or played a key role in the attacks on the USS Cole and the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
"Zawahiri continues to pose an active threat to US people, interests, and national security," the official said in a conference call. "His death deals a significant blow to al Qaeda and will degrade the group's ability to operate."
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.
However, Zawahiri's death raises questions about whether Zawahiri received protection from the Taliban following the takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
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The official said senior Taliban officials were aware of his presence in the city and said the United States expected the Taliban to comply with a no-go deal, allowing al Qaeda fighters to rebuild themselves in the country.
The drone strike was the first known US strike in Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021.
The move could increase the credibility of Washington's assurances that the United States can still address the threat from Afghanistan without a military presence in the country.
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