Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri lived a life of secrecy and terror until being assassinated by a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, July 31.
Al-Zawahiri, a 71-year-old surgeon who converted to jihad, was killed on Monday, according to US Vice President Joe Biden, and it was long overdue “justice.”
Biden continued, “This terrorist leader is no more,” adding, “He will never again, never again, enable Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else occurs.”
Al-Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden were on the US list of “most wanted terrorists” because of their involvement in the 9/11 attacks. They were both killed in May 2010 after a US Navy SEAL team invaded his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
On September 11, 2001, the militant extremist network al-Qaeda launched four synchronized suicide terrorist strikes against the United States.
Al-Zawahiri was frequently regarded as Al Qaeda’s intellectual core; he served as the organization’s COO, PR director, and a significant influence, helping the Saudi-born Bin Laden transform from a captivating preacher into a deadly terrorist with a reach throughout the globe.
Al-Zawahiri lived a life of cat and mouse from his teenage years in a wealthy Cairo suburb, serving prison terms in Egypt and Russia while being hunted by enemies, including US counterterrorism agents who put a $25 million bounty on his head.
Zawahiri was raised in a cozy Cairo family. Early on, he got active in Egypt’s radical Islamist scene, and at the age of 15, he reportedly faced arrest for allegedly joining the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
He was convicted of militancy in Egypt and sentenced to three years in prison. He participated in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat and the 1997 killing of foreign tourists in Luxor.
He later accompanied bin Laden to Afghanistan where he worked as a personal physician and strategist for Al-Qaeda.
He signed one of the five “fatwas” that bin Laden issued in 1998 calling for strikes on Americans. Like bin Laden, he disappeared after the September 11 attacks, escaped numerous efforts at murder, and then reappeared following news that he had passed away.
With a $25 million bounty on his head for the 1998 assaults in Africa, he remained in the US’s crosshairs. Zawahiri became the leader of Al-Qaeda after bin Laden was assassinated by US Navy SEALs in 2011.
