THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — An American drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahri, a key plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks who took over as the leader of Al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death, at an urban safe house in Afghanistan, President Biden announced on Monday night.
The early-morning strike in the heart of downtown Kabul over the weekend capped a 21-year manhunt for an Egyptian radical who more than anyone besides Bin Laden was deemed responsible for the deadliest foreign attack on the United States in modern times and never gave up targeting Americans.
“Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” Mr. Biden said in a seven-minute nationally televised address from the White House. “We make it clear again tonight,” he added, “that 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.”
American intelligence agencies tracked down al-Zawahri in Kabul earlier this year and then spent months determining that it really was him hiding out in a house in a crowded section of the Afghan capital. After receiving authorization from Mr. Biden a week ago, the C.I.A. fired two Hellfire missiles and killed al-Zawahri on a balcony of the house without killing anyone else, including members of his family or any nearby civilians, American officials said. » | Peter Baker, Helene Cooper, Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt | Monday, August 1, 2022
Ayman Al-Zawahiri, une vie entière dévouée au djihad : Le chef d’Al-Qaida, tué dans une frappe de drone américain, annoncée, lundi, par Joe Biden, était sorti de l’ombre après les attentats du 11-Septembre. Des Frères musulmans à « la base », son parcours épouse toutes les mutations du djihadisme contemporain. »
Al-Qaida-Chef al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan getötet: Mehr als zwei Jahrzehnte nach den Terroranschlägen vom 11. September töten die USA Bin Ladens Nachfolger mit einem Drohnenangriff in Kabul. Präsident Bidens Afghanistan-Strategie kommt das gelegen. »
