Explained: How the US planned and executed the killing of World No 1 terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri

The United States has killed the world’s most-wanted terrorist – the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan. He was taken out in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday.

Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him, according to US officials. Other family members were present but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed, reports BBC.

On Saturday, at my direction, the United States successfully conducted an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed the emir of al-Qa’ida: Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Justice has been delivered.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 1, 2022

We take a look at how the operation to kill one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks was planned and executed.

How the plan to kill al-Zawahiri was made

United States President Joe Biden and a close circle of senior advisors secretly planned the operation to kill al-Zawahiri for months.

Biden emphasised that while al-Zawahiri was the target no civilians should be killed in the Afghan capital – not even the terrorist’s family. The drone strike on Sunday only killed the Al-Qaeda leader, according to the White House.

CNN: The United States has killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike. pic.twitter.com/6Oyl0Mpuoe

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2022

A small-scale model of Zawahiri’s safe house, constructed by intelligence officials, was placed inside the White House Situation Room for Biden to examine, reports CNN.

“For several years the US government has been aware of a network that we assessed supported Zawahiri,” a senior administration official told reporters. But it was only this year that US intelligence learned that his family had moved to the Afghan capital.

In April, US intelligence officials informed the President about placing Zawahiri at a safe house in Kabul. They identified his wife, daughter and children. The women used “terrorist tradecraft” that ensured no one followed them, according to the CNN report.

They were careful, the official said, exercising “longstanding terrorist tradecraft to prevent anyone from tracking them to the Qaeda leader.

Eventually, Zawahiri showed up earlier in the year and never left.

Closely monitoring the safe house, the US officials established a pattern, which included the World No 1 terrorist coming to the balcony, on which he was killed, from time to time. “We identified Zawahiri on multiple occasions for sustained periods of time on the balcony,” the official said.

Then a plan was chalked out keeping in mind that the building’s structural integrity is not compromised and civilian deaths were avoided.

On 1 July, Biden met with key national security officials – CIA Director Bill Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy Jon Finer, and Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood Randall – to discuss the developments, reports CNN.

On 25 July, the President, who was isolating with COVID-19, went over “granular” details including the layout of the house, how the strike could affect it, and any other options that could minimise civilian casualties. He then okayed a “precise tailored airstrike” to take out Zawahiri, according to CNN.

How the plan was executed

Five days later, Zawahiri was killed by two missiles fired at his Kabul house. The strike involved a US drone, armed with two precision-guided Hellfire missiles, which were launched at 6:18 am Sunday, Kabul time.

Zawahiri was “killed on the balcony,” a US official confirmed.

The pictures show no sign of an explosion and no one else was harmed in the operation.

The US used the macabre Hellfire R9X, a warhead-less missile believed equipped with six razor-like blades extending from the fuselage that slices through its target but does not explode, reports AFP.

Also called the “ninja bomb”, the missile has become America’s munition of choice for killing leaders of extremist groups while avoiding civilian casualties.

Zawahiri’s last few moments

A US official told reporters that on the morning of 31 July, Zawahiri was standing alone on the balcony of his Kabul residence, when a US drone launched the two Hellfires.

Apparent photographs of the building show windows blown out on one floor, but the rest of the building, including windows on other floors, is still in place.

Members of Zawahiri’s family were present in the home, but “were purposely not targeted and were not harmed,” the official said. “We have no indications that civilians were harmed in this strike.”

The official said the strike “deals a significant blow to Al Qaeda and will degrade the group’s ability to operate.”

“As President Biden has consistently said, we will not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorists who might bring harm to Americans,” he added.

Similarities to the Osama bin Laden raid

The killing of Zawahiri brings to mind Operation Geronimo which killed his predecessor Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s Abbottabad on 2 May 2011.

Like Zawahiri, Bin Laden had been living in seclusion for at least five years in Abbottabad before he was killed in a firefight and shot in the head by US Navy SEALs.

However, this time the strike was carried out without any ground support.

US officials described the operation as meticulously planned as that which killed bin Laden in 2011.
That the leader of the violent jihadist group was in Afghanistan was not surprising. Since the Taliban regained control in August, Al-Qaeda has felt more at home, analysts say.

Announcing the death of Zawahiri, President Joe Biden in a televised address said, “This terrorist leader is no more… He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens.”

He expressed hope that the killing of the Al-Qaeda leader brings “one more measure of closure" to families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

Obama won a second term as a Democrat President in 2012 and a significant credit for the success goes to the killing of bin Laden in 2011.

Biden, who has been witnessing wavering support, especially post the pandemic, can hope that taking out the World’s No 1 terrorist can make way for a second term.

With inputs from agencies

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