U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the traveling press after participating in a working session with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on July 15, 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will announce Monday that a CIA counterterrorism strike in Afghanistan killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The Associated Press first reported that al-Zawahiri was killed in the operation.
The strike “was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” a senior Biden administration official said earlier, without confirming the identity of the target. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Biden is scheduled to speak from the White House at 7:30 PM ET.
Al-Zawahiri, a physician and founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad before rising to the top ranks of the al-Qaida network, was one of the main architects of the devastating 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and pentagon
In the weeks that followed, the Taliban provided sanctuary to al-Qaeda as America mobilized for what would be its longest war. Al-Zawahiri succeeded Osama bin Laden as head of Al-Qaeda in 2011.
Osama bin Laden (left) sits with his adviser Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian linked to the Al Qaeda network, during an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
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Al-Zawahiri was previously indicted by the US government for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya.
The State Department had previously offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his arrest.
Sunday’s drone strike is the CIA’s first known counterterrorism operation since Kabul fell to the Taliban last year.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
