Al-Qaeda chief Ayman-al-Zawahiri killing: Here is how CIA took down world’s most-wanted terrorist

President Joe Biden announced Monday that Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul, an operation he hailed as delivering “justice” while expressing hope that it brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Al-Zawahiri had overseen the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001 — that killed 2,977 people — along with Osama Bin-Laden, who was killed by the US in 2011 in Pakistan.

How was he found:

Zawahiri, along with his family—his wife, and kids—had moved to a safe home in Kabul, where he was found by the US authorities.

After several months, intelligence officials became more certain that they had accurately identified Zawahiri inside the Kabul safe house.

Officials investigated the safe house’s construction and nature as well as its occupants to make sure that the United States could confidently carry out an operation to kill Zawahiri without endangering the structural integrity of the building and minimising the risk to onlookers and Zawahiri’s family.

“We were able to build a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation,” the US officials said to Reuters.

The house where al-Zawahri stayed was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior US intelligence official.

How he was killed:

The strike was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Subsequently, a drone shooting ‘hellfire’ missiles ultimately carried out the strike on July 30 at 9:48 p.m. ET (0148 GMT).

A loud explosion echoed through Kabul early Sunday morning.

Confirming the kill, US President Joe Biden, in a televised address on Monday (US time) announced that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in an air strike by the United States stating that “Justice has been delivered.”

“I authorised a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all,” Biden said on Monday in a speech from the White House.

According to officials, Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him. Other family members were present, but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed.

Taliban criticizes Zawhiri’s killing:

In a statement on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that a strike took place on a residence in the capital and called it a violation of “international principles.”

In a statement, the group called the strike a “clear violation” of international principles and the Doha Agreement, the 2020 pact signed by the Taliban and the US that facilitated the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan.

Taliban betrayed Afghan people says US:

In a statement, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taliban also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from the international community and normalisation of ties.

However, he said that the US will continue to support the Afghan people with robust humanitarian assistance and advocate for the protection of their human rights, especially of women and girls.

The Taliban had promised in the 2020 Doha Agreement on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that they would not harbour Al-Qaeda members.

Nearly a year after the US military’s chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, al-Zawahri’s killing raises questions about the involvement of Taliban leaders in sheltering a mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks and one of America’s most-wanted fugitives.