Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Sunday.
The drone attack is the first confirmed US strike inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has not confirmed the death of Zawahiri, who helped to plan and carry out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US that killed nearly 3,000 people.
US officials said Zawahiri was killed on the balcony of his safe house in Kabul at 6:18 a.m. (0148 GMT) on Sunday morning. He was hit by missiles from a US drone.
“Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” US President Joe Biden spoke to the press at the White House on Monday. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Biden said that the attack had been planned for several months and that no civilians or family members were killed.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, confirmed that a strike took place in Kabul on Sunday. He called it a violation of “international principles.”
A spokesperson for the interior ministry confirmed that a rocket hit a house in Sherpoor, an upscale residential neighborhood in Kabul. The spokesperson would not confirm any injuries.
A White House spokesman, John Kirby, said that DNA evidence was not sought, but there was other evidence to confirm the terrorist’s death. A senior Biden administration official told reporters that US intelligence had “high confidence” that Zawahiri was killed by the strike.
Reportedly, Zawahiri had been in hiding for several years and the intelligence community has been working on the operation to find and kill him for a long time. Intelligence officers have been tracking Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan since the US’s withdrawal from the country.
They were able to identify Zawahiri and his family in the safe house in Kabul.
Zawahiri appeared on his balcony several times in the past, and on Sunday for his last time.
President Biden had been meeting with advisors and his Cabinet over the last few weeks to discuss the US response.
Biden was briefed on the drone strike operation on July 1 in the White House Situation Room by members of his cabinet and CIA Director William Burns.
