BREAKING: Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri killed in US drone attack

Militant and leader of AL Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri has been confirmed dead from a drone strike by the United States.

The United States killed Ayman Al-Zawahiri in a “precision” strike in the center of Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

The United States President Joe Biden, speaking on the death of the militant, said it was the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, commonly known as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon with a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, U.S. officials narrated how Zawahiri was killed.

According to officials, Zawahiri was killed when he came out on the balcony of his safe house in Kabul on Sunday morning and was hit by “hellfire” missiles from a U.S. drone.

In a remark on Monday, July 1 by the US president, Joe Biden from the White House, he said;

“Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,”

“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.”

He said he had authorized the precision strike in downtown Kabul and that no civilians were killed.

Intelligence had located al-Zawahiri’s family in Kabul earlier this year, Biden said, adding that no members of the family or civilians had been killed in the attack.

The Taliban confirmed the attack in Kabul and condemned it as a “violation of international principles”.

The strike was carried out on a residential house in the Sherpur area of Kabul, a diplomatic enclave where many Taliban leaders live now, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the US, Afghanistan and the region,” Mujahid said.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said al-Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul “grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries”.

Washington and the Taliban signed the deal in 2020, paving the way for the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces in return for a guarantee from the Taliban not to allow groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) to operate on Afghan soil. The US forces withdrew just before an August 31 deadline in what turned out to be a chaotic exercise