The United States killed al- Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri over the weekend in a drone strike during a "successful counter-terrorist operation" in Afghanistan , according to US media.
Zawahiri, considered the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead in New York, became head of the terrorist organization after Osama bin Laden's death in 2011 at the hands of a US commando in Pakistan.
The operation caused "no civilian casualties," a senior US official said. President Joe Biden will deliver a speech on the subject at 7:30 pm ET (6:30 pm Mexico City time), the White House reported without elaborating.
According to US media, Ayman al-Zawahiri may have been killed in a drone attack carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The State Department was offering up to $25 million in reward for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of the al Qaeda leader.
This announcement comes almost a year after the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of the country twenty years after they were overthrown.
In mid-July, the United States announced that it had killed the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, Maher al-Agal, during a drone attack, an operation that "significantly weakened the organization's ability" to prepare, finance and carry conduct operations in the region," said a US military spokesman.
