Washington(USA)- “This terrorist leader is no more,” Mr Biden added before expressing his hope the killing brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks on 11 September 2001. The president added that Afghanistan would “never again become a terrorist haven” after the strike was carried out nearly a year after US troops withdrew from the country.
The Egyptian terror leader was standing on the balcony of a safehouse in downtown Kabul on Sunday morning when he was killed by two hellfire missiles fired from a drone.
Mr Biden said none of the 71-year-old’s family members was injured, and there were no civilian casualties.
The US president said: “The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to harm us.
“We make it clear tonight that no matter how long it takes or where you hide if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
The FBI had been offering $25m (£20m) for “information leading to the apprehension or conviction” of the terror leader, whose death is the biggest blow to al Qaeda since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in 2011.
According to a senior US administration official, the operation to kill al-Zawahiri was many months in the planning.
Mr Biden was first briefed about a proposed operation to take out the al Qaeda leader on 1 July this year.
But it was much earlier in the year when intelligence suggested that his wife and children had relocated to Kabul. He and his family were believed until that point to have been in hiding in Pakistan.
The family were located in a safehouse where, the US official says, al-Zawahiri was eventually spotted too.
He was watched for several months, and his pattern of life was recorded. He never left the house but did spend time on a balcony, where he was eventually killed.
