AFP/Al Jazeera
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NOS News•today, 00:06
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The United States has killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan. US President Biden said in a press conference. “The terrorist leader is no more.”
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Al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone attack carried out by US intelligence agency CIA on Saturday in the capital Kabul. It is considered the most significant attack on the terrorist group since 2011, when al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden was killed.
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The CIA located the leader earlier this year, Biden says. “He moved to downtown Kabul to join relatives,” the president said. “After confirming his location, I approved a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield for good. This mission was carefully prepared to minimize the risk to others,” Biden said.
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“A week ago, when I was advised that the conditions were optimal, I gave permission to catch him. The mission was a success. No one from his family was hit and there were no civilian casualties.”
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Watch Biden’s entire press conference here:
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Earlier in the evening, the White House declined to confirm that al-Zawahiri was killed, but said only that “a successful counterterrorism operation” in Afghanistan against “a key target of al-Qaida” took place last weekend.
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A Taliban spokesman already confirmed in a statement that an attack had taken place. The Taliban condemned the attack, calling it “a clear violation of international principles”. The statement does not say anything about Al-Zawahiri or other possible victims.
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11 september 2001
Al-Zawahiri, 71, an Egyptian doctor and surgeon, helped prepare for the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Four civilian aircraft were hijacked. Two planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Washington, and one ended up in a field in the state of Pennsylvania. About 3000 people were killed.
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Reuters
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The September 11 attack made bin Laden the United States’ greatest enemy. But he probably never would have been able to carry out that attack without the help of his ‘number two’ Al-Zawahiri. Bin Laden gave al-Qaeda an identity and he took care of the money, but al-Zawahiri was the man of tactics. He provided an organized network of militants located all over the world.
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There was a $25 million prize on his head for anyone who could provide information about his whereabouts. In 2017, Abu al-Khayr became al-Masri killedAt the time, he was the number two in the terror movement. He was killed in an attack near the Syrian city of Idlib.
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