By Jibran Ahmed and Rupam Jain
– Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, survived years in Afghanistan’s rugged mountains however his final months have been spent in an upscale Kabul neighbourhood the place high officers from the Taliban additionally reside.
U.S. officers stated Hellfire missiles from a U.S. drone killed the 71-year-old when he got here out on the balcony of a protected home in Kabul on Sunday morning. U.S. President Joe Biden stated no civilians have been killed.
The Taliban confirmed an air strike on a residential home within the Sherpoor space of Kabul however stated there have been no casualties.
Zawahiri moved to a “very protected place” in Kabul a number of months after the Taliban took management of Afghanistan in August final yr, a senior chief of the unconventional group informed Reuters on Tuesday on the situation of anonymity.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the drone strike and known as it a violation of “worldwide ideas”. Two Taliban spokesmen didn't reply to Reuters request looking for particulars about Zawahiri’s demise.
Unverified footage on social media of what was described because the goal of the assault confirmed shattered home windows of a pink constructing, its fences topped with rolls of barbed wires. The home appeared two to 3 tales tall and ringed by bushes.
Sherpoor is a quiet, leafy a part of Kabul with giant homes, the place former Afghan common and ethnic Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum had lived, amongst different native dignitaries. Some homes have swimming swimming pools of their connected gardens.
U.S. and NATO embassies are inside a number of km (miles) of the world.
A lady who lives within the neighbourhood and spoke to Reuters on situation of anonymity stated she and her household of 9 moved to the safe-room of their home when she heard an explosion on the weekend. When she later went to the rooftop, she noticed no commotion or chaos and assumed it was some rocket or bomb assault – which aren't unusual in Kabul.
The senior Taliban chief stated Zawahiri spent most of his time within the mountains of Helmand province’s Musa Qala district after the Taliban authorities was overthrown in 2001 when the US despatched troops to the nation.
He stated Zawahiri saved a low profile there however went out and in of Pakistan’s border areas a number of instances.
Pakistan’s international workplace didn't reply to questions on Zawahiri’s reported actions out and in of Pakistan.
In January, 2006, CIA-operated Predator drones fired missiles at a home in Damadola, a village within the Pakistani tribal area of Bajaur, within the perception that Zawahiri was visiting. He was not however a minimum of 18 villagers have been killed.
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Different Taliban sources stated the group gave the “highest-level safety” to Zawahiri in Kabul however he was largely inactive operationally and wanted the Taliban’s permission to maneuver.
A Kabul police official described Sherpoor as Kabul’s “most protected and safe neighbourhood” and that the drone strike there was a “nice shock”.
He stated influential individuals from the previous governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani had constructed spacious homes in Sherpoor. Senior Taliban leaders and their households now lived there, the official stated.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults that killed practically 3,000 individuals in the US.
A U.S. official stated U.S. officers recognized that Zawahiri’s household – his spouse, his daughter and her youngsters – had relocated to a home in Kabul and subsequently recognized Zawahiri on the identical location.
Officers weren't conscious of him leaving it and on a number of instances they recognized him on its balcony – the place he was finally struck.
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