5 hours ago
The Taliban has not found the body of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, whose death the United States confirmed in a US raid last month, according to the movement’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.
Washington had said it killed al-Zawahiri with a missile fired by a drone while he was standing on the balcony of his hideout in July.
US officials said his killing was the biggest blow to al-Qaeda since the US Navy shot dead Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago.
The Taliban had originally denied knowledge of the presence of the al-Qaeda leader on its soil when Washington announced his assassination.
The movement said that the authorities had asked the intelligence services to conduct a thorough and serious investigation to verify what the United States said.
The movement added at the time that it had no information about the entry or residence of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the country.
According to a Taliban spokesman, investigations are still ongoing.
Taliban leaders had warned the United States against repeating such attacks, saying that “Washington will have to bear the consequences if it violates Afghan territory again.”
photo released, Archyde.com
How was al-Zawahiri killed?
It was said that al-Zawahiri used to go out to the balcony of his house in the center of Kabul after performing prayers. He did the same after sunrise on July 31.
This was the last thing he did that day.
At 06:18 local time, two missiles landed on the balcony of the house, and the strike killed Al-Zawahiri, aged 71, without harming his wife or daughter inside, and it seems that all the damage caused by the strike was confined to the balcony.
Some wondered why the Americans were able to carry out the strike with such precision, after the United States faced criticism in the past for misidentified air strikes, which led to the deaths of civilians.
It is believed that the matter differed in this strike, as the type of missile used, as well as a careful study of Al-Zawahiri’s habits, were the key to the success of the mission, which made way for its repetition and the implementation of more strikes.
US officials said the drone-launched missile, an air-to-surface type of missile, has become a staple of US counterterrorism operations abroad over the decades since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The missile can be launched from different platforms, including helicopters, cars, ships, and fixed-wing aircraft, or from a drone, as in the case of the al-Zawahiri operation.
Al-Qaeda remains silent on the question of the succession of its former leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The names of the proposed figures, mostly from Syria, were mentioned, such as Abu Maria al-Qahtani from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, in addition to other jihadists, including al-Zawahiri’s deputy, Saif al-Adl, and al-Qaeda’s media official, Abd al-Rahman al-Mughrabi.
However, a number of analysts pointed out that justice lacks credibility, if it is still, as it is believed, in Iran.