«Now, justice has been delivered,» President Biden said Monday night. «And this terrorist leader is no more.»
Al Qaeda leader was killed over the weekend in a drone strike in a U.S. counterterrorism operation, President Joe Biden announced Monday night.
«He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats, and American interests,» President Biden said in his brief remarks from the White House balcony. «Now, justice has been delivered. And this terrorist leader is no more.»
The president said al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul.
«After relentlessly seeking Zawahiri for years under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year,» Mr. Biden said. «He had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family.»
The U.S. government had multiple, independent sources confirming al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts at a safehouse, a senior administration official told reporters on a call Monday evening. The strike was a result of careful, patient and persistent work by counterterrorism officials over the course of months and years.
The president said that after he considered «clear and convincing evidence» of al-Zawahiri’s location, he «authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all.» He gave his final approval to «go get him» one week ago.
Al-Zawahiri was ultimately taken out by a drone at 9:48 p.m. ET Saturday, while he was on the balcony of the safehouse, and his family members were in different rooms of the house.
«None of his family members were hurt and there were no civilian casualties,» the president said. The U.S. government has a high level of confidence that no one else was killed in the strike, according to the senior administration official.
The senior administration official said the president received regular updates as the U.S. government zeroed in on al-Zawahiri.
