Officials said earlier that a strike by a US spy agency’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had been carried out against a “major” target belonging to al Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri is believed to have been killed in a CIA airstrike in the Afghan capital Kabul over the weekend, an unnamed US government official told Reuters.
US President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a speech at 19:30 on Monday (local time; 02:30 Greek time) about what Washington describes as a “successful anti-terrorist operation”.
Officials said earlier that a strike by a US spy agency’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had been carried out against a “major” target belonging to al Qaeda.
According to a senior US official cited by AFP, the raid caused “no civilian casualties”.
This is the first known US airstrike in Kabul since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan nearly a year ago on August 15, 2021, as diplomatic and military personnel from Western nations hastily and chaotically left.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid limited himself to only confirming that a UAV airstrike had been carried out and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of “international principles.”
The US announced in mid-July that its forces had killed the Islamic State (IS) leader in Syria, Mahel al-Aghal, also in an airstrike.
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