People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer,” he continued. “Now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. For decades, he was the mastermind of attacks against Americans.” Zawahiri, Biden said, “was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on American soil. Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan “strongly condemns this attack on any pretext and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement.”īiden, who was kept abreast of the strike against Zawahiri as he isolated with a rebound case of Covid-19, spoke outdoors Monday from the Blue Room Balcony at the White House. The tweets by Mujahid came out prior to CNN reporting Zawahiri’s death. He said, “The nature of the incident was not apparent at first” but the security and intelligence services of the Islamic Emirate investigated the incident and “initial findings determined that the strike was carried out by an American drone.”
#Us drone strike kills children series#
In a series of tweets, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, “An air strike was carried out on a residential house in Sherpur area of Kabul city on July 31.” The US did not alert Taliban officials ahead of Saturday’s strike. Senior Haqqani Taliban figures were aware of Zawahiri’s presence in the area, the official said, in “clear violation of the Doha agreement,” and even took steps to conceal his presence after Saturday’s successful strike, restricting access to the safe house and rapidly relocating members of his family, including his daughter and her children, who were intentionally not targeted during the strike and remained unharmed. ET on Saturday was authorized by Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers, the official said on Monday, adding that no American personnel were on the ground in Kabul at the time of the strike. The drone strike was conducted at 9:48 p.m. Zawahiri was sheltering in downtown Kabul to reunite with his family, Biden said, and was killed in what a senior administration official described as “a precise tailored airstrike” using two Hellfire missiles. At one point, he acted as bin Laden’s personal physician. Zawahiri, who just turned 71 years old, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden. “I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all,” Biden said. "After deeper post-strike analysis our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed.The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, President Joe Biden said Monday in a speech from the White House. "In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid. "We are committed to being fully transparent about this incident. "This is a horrible tragedy of war and it's heart wrenching," he said. Loading.Īfter General McKenzie's remarks, General Milley expressed regret. McKenzie said the United States was considering making reparation payments to the family of the victims.Ĭhairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, told reporters two days after the attack that it appeared to have been a "righteous" strike and that at least one of the people killed was a "facilitator" for ISIS-K. "We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to US forces," he added, referring to the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate.
"The strike was a tragic mistake," Marine General McKenzie said. The Pentagon announced a review revealing only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.
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News organisations reported that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organisation and cited an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon's assertion that the vehicle contained explosives. "All the neighbours tried to help and brought water to put out the fire and I saw that there were 5 or 6 people dead," CNN reported a witness as saying. For days after the August 29 strike, officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly.īut local witnesses and international media were quick to report the blast had taken the lives of civilians.
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