Giving a major jolt to Al-Qaeda, the United States, through the strike operation by CIA in Afghanistan, has killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda. This is the biggest blow to the militant group since Osama Bin Laden’s death in 2011.
Ayman al-Zawahri, the mentor of Osama and the highest ranking al-Qaeda official, took over for him. Al-Zawahri is the one who led Al-Qaeda behind the curtains, more like its CEO, rather than its public face, founder, and chairman Osama bin Laden.
As per the media reports, Zawahiri was hiding for years and as claimed by the officials, the operation to find and kill him was the result of “careful patient and persistent” work by the counter-terrorism and intelligence unit. Zawahiri had been thought to be in the tribal region of Pakistan or within Afghanistan prior to the US disclosing his killing.
A tweet by President Biden’s official handle, along with a video, reads:
“I made a promise to the American people that we’d continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond.
We have done that.”
Al-Zawahri was the one who managed some of the most audacious plots by Al-Qaeda, including the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, which led to the death of over 3,000 people.
Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, was born on June 19, 1951, into a prosperous family. He was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim who immersed himself in a violent offshoot of the movement that aspired to overthrow the governments of Egypt and other Arab countries with a strict interpretation of Islam.
He practised eye surgery and travelled throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, where he witnessed Afghans fighting Soviet occupiers and encountered young Saudi Osama bin Laden along with the other Arab militants who were uniting to aid Afghanistan in driving out the Soviets.
