Al-Qaeda chief dies in US drone strike

Zawahiri killed at Kabul house in biggest blow to militant group since Osama’s death in 2011

- Nirmal Ghosh

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has been killed in an American drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul, US officials said on Monday.

The drone struck Zawahiri with two Hellfire missiles while he was on the balcony of the house he was living in, just after 6am (Kabul time) on Sunday, a senior administration official told reporters, saying nobody else was harmed.

The official said “multiple streams of intelligence” led to the identification of Zawahiri.

The strike is significant in terms of eliminating the organisation’s leader and key ideologue, and demonstrating US intelligence and over-the-horizon capability in Afghanistan.

It was the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. Zawahiri was his deputy.

It also may temper the negative effect of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan almost exactly a year ago last August.

And it gave US President Joe Biden an opportunity to show resolve. He now has under his belt the elimination of two most-wanted militant leaders in under six months. Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in a US Special Forces raid in Syria in February.

“Justice has been delivered,” Mr Biden said in brief televised remarks to the nation.