New York Times: Al-Zawahiri was targeted at the home of the assistant minister of the Taliban.
Informed American sources say that the leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization was targeted at the home of one of the senior assistants of the Taliban’s interior minister, and the “Hellfire” missile was used for this attack.
The New York Times quoted current and former US government officials as saying: “The United States killed the leader of al-Qaeda and the main designer of the September 11, 2001 attacks in Afghanistan in a drone attack.”
Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in the Kabul attack, the first attack in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US troops last year and a major propaganda victory for the Biden administration’s counter-terrorism efforts, the sources told the newspaper.
“This attack was carried out by the CIA, not the US military,” said the officials, whose names or positions were not disclosed. The attack was successful and there were no civilian casualties. With the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the CIA began covert efforts to locate al-Zawahiri, believing that the Taliban’s return to power would make him less cautious.
According to an American analyst, the house where al-Zawahiri was targeted belonged to one of the senior assistants of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Minister of Interior Affairs of the Taliban government. A minister who American officials say is close to senior al-Qaeda figures.
