WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Monday night that a U.S. counterterrorism operation over the weekend in Afghanistan killed top Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the plotters behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Justice has been delivered. And this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in a rare evening address from the White House. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide — if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Biden described al-Zawahiri as a “mastermind” of the 9/11 attacks and said the terrorist leader also played a key role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
“He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests,” Biden said.
Since taking over Al Qaeda in 2011 following the death of Osama bin Laden, Biden said al-Zawahiri had called for attacks against the U.S. and its allies.
The Associated Press first reported that al-Zawahiri was killed in the operation.
Two people briefed on the matter told NBC News it was a CIA drone strike that killed al-Zawahiri.
Al-Zawahiri was killed at 6:18 a.m. local time at a safe house in downtown Kabul, according to an administration official. He was standing on a balcony during the time of the attack. No civilians or family members of al-Zawahiri were killed in the attack, the official said.
Biden said U.S. intelligence had located al-Zawahiri in downtown Kabul earlier this year and spent months carefully planning to avoid any civilian casualties.