Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri killed in US drone strike on house in Afghan capital Kabul

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has been killed in a US drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul, US President Joe Biden announced on August 2, 2022. Zawahiri was killed on July 31, while hiding with his family at a house in downtown Kabul. No civilian casualties were reported, and other members of his family were in a separate room at the time, according to US officials. Zawahiri became al-Qaeda’s leader after the US killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. Zawahiri was said to have been the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks that bin Laden ordered on the US in 2001, prompting a US-led invasion of Afghanistan where al-Qaeda was based. The US fully withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, nearly 20 years later. A Taliban spokesman called the assassination of Zawahiri a violation of “international principles”.