US President Joe Biden is due to speak on Tuesday night, following reports of a CIA drone strike that killed an al-Qaeda top brass in Kabul on Sunday.
Updated just now
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The case is updated
– The US has carried out a successful operation against an important al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan, an American official told Reuters.
According to several American media, it is supposed to be Ayman al-Zawahari (71), Osama bin Laden’s heir.
Al-Zawahri took over the leadership of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.
He has been accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks in 2001, in which nearly 3,000 civilians were killed, and has been wanted ever since.
The US official says the anti-terrorist operation was carried out by the CIA over the weekend and there were no civilian casualties.
– The drone attack that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahari is a major success for US anti-terrorist activity. It is the result of countless hours of intelligence gathering over many years, says Mick Mulroy, former CIA officer and current Pentagon employee.
– He probably thought we would never be able to track him down. He was wrong, Mulroy adds The New York Times.
The White House states that President Joe Biden will comment on the action later on Monday. He will speak from the balcony in the Blue Room since he is still in isolation due to corona infection.
Biden is expected to deliver the speech at 01:30 Norwegian time.
A statement from the Taliban earlier on Monday condemned the drone attack, which is said to have taken place in a civilian area in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. This was before American sources had confirmed the attack.
–– The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the attack, writes the Taliban in a statement.
– Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences from the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States, Afghanistan and the region, the statement reads.
According to New York Times This is the first US attack on Afghan soil since the withdrawal from the country last year.
A UN report from earlier this summer stated that al-Qaeda had found a safe haven in the now Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
In the report, reproduced by The Guardianit is said that several of the terrorist organization’s members had settled in Kabul, despite the Taliban’s alleged attempts to control al-Qaeda.
The Guardian further writes that there had been an increase in communications from al-Zawahiri, which suggested that he might be able to lead the terrorist group more effectively now than before the Taliban takeover of the country.
The doctor who became a terrorist
According to Great Norwegian Ayman al-Zawahiri took over as head of al-Qaeda after its founder, Osama bin Laden, was killed in May 2011.
al-Zawahiri was born in Cairo in 1951 and trained as a doctor.
After bin Laden’s death jerked al-Zawahiri up as the FBI’s most wanted man. After the biggest terrorist attack in history on September 11, 2001, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri managed to stay hidden from American intelligence.
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