The strike was carried out at 9:48 p.m. ET (0148 GMT) on July 30 by a drone.
Washington:
Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, the most important blow to the terrorist group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Zawahiri had been in hiding for years and the operation to find and kill him was the results of “careful patient and persistent” work by the counter-terrorism and intelligence neighborhood, a senior administration official informed reporters.
Until the US announcement, Zawahiri had been rumored variously to be in Pakistan’s tribal space or inside Afghanistan.
Speaking on the situation of anonymity, the official offered the next particulars on the operation:
* For a number of years, the US authorities had been conscious of a community that it assessed supported Zawahiri, and over the previous 12 months, following the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, officers had been awaiting indications of Al Qaeda’s presence within the nation.
This 12 months, officers recognized that Zawahiri’s household – his spouse, his daughter and her kids – had relocated to a protected home in Kabul and subsequently recognized Zawahiri on the similar location.
* Over a number of months, intelligence officers grew extra assured that that they had accurately recognized Zawahiri on the Kabul protected home and in early April began briefing senior administration officers. Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, subsequently briefed President Joe Biden.
“We were able to build a pattern of life through multiple independent sources of information to inform the operation,” the official stated.
Once Zawahiri arrived on the Kabul protected home, officers weren’t conscious of him leaving it they usually recognized him on its balcony – the place he was in the end struck – on a number of events, the official stated.
* Officials investigated the development and nature of the protected home and scrutinized its occupants to make sure the United States might confidently conduct an operation to kill Zawahiri with out threatening the structural integrity of the constructing and minimizing the chance to civilians and Zawahiri’s household, the official stated.
* In latest weeks, the president convened conferences with key advisors and Cabinet members to scrutinize the intelligence and consider the most effective plan of action. On July 1, Biden was briefed on a proposed operation within the White House Situation Room by members of his cupboard together with CIA Director William Burns
Biden “asked detailed questions about what we knew and how we knew it” and carefully examined a mannequin of the protected home the intelligence neighborhood had constructed and delivered to the assembly.
He requested about lighting, climate, building supplies, and different elements that might have an effect on the success of the operation, the official stated. The president additionally requested evaluation of the potential ramifications of a strike in Kabul.
* A tight circle of senior inter-company legal professionals examined the intelligence reporting and confirmed that Zawahiri was a lawful goal based mostly on his persevering with management of Al Qaeda.
On July 25, the president convened his key Cabinet members and advisors to obtain a remaining briefing and focus on how killing Zawahiri would have an effect on America’s relationship with the Taliban, amongst different points, the official stated. After soliciting views from others within the room, Biden licensed “a precise tailored air strike” on the situation that it decrease the chance of civilian casualties.
* The strike was in the end carried out at 9:48 p.m. ET (0148 GMT) on July 30 by a drone firing so-known as “hellfire” missiles.
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