The Taliban are investigating US “claims” that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Kabul, a Taliban official said on Thursday, adding that the group’s leaders were unaware of his presence in Kabul. Reuters.

The United States said it killed Zawahiri on Sunday with a missile fired from a drone while he was on the balcony of his Kabul hideout, US officials said, in the biggest blow to the militants since the killing of Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago.

“The government and the leadership were not aware of what was said and there was no trace,” Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s designated UN representative in Doha, told reporters in a statement.

“An investigation is now underway to find out the veracity of the statement,” he said, adding that the results of the investigation would be made public.

Taliban leaders have remained tight-lipped about Sunday’s drone strike and have not confirmed Zawahiri’s presence or death in Kabul.

The group did not respond to the attack

Three sources in the group said Taliban leaders had held lengthy discussions about how to respond to the drone attack.

The Taliban’s response could have far-reaching consequences as the group seeks international legitimacy and access to billions of dollars in frozen funds since the defeat of the US-backed government a year ago.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, was actively involved in the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and was one of the most wanted people in the world.

The US accuses the Taliban of violating the agreement

His death in Kabul raises questions about whether he was being harbored by the Taliban, which assured the United States under a 2020 deal to withdraw US-led forces that it would not harbor other militant groups.

Shaheen said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name the Taliban use to refer to the country and its government, is committed to the agreement signed in the Qatari capital Doha.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the Taliban had “grossly violated” the agreement by hosting and harboring Zawahiri.

Who was Ayman al-Zawahiri

Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri has been the leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group since 2011.

Along with Osama bin Laden, Zawahiri built the core infrastructure of al-Qaeda as a terrorist group, playing a crucial role in the jihadist movement, which turned its attention to the United States, carrying out attacks on civilians and the country’s military.

Zawahiri, 71, was considered the “mastermind” behind most of al-Qaeda’s attacks, developing tactics and organizational skills to recruit militants around the world.

Ayman al-Zawahiri – a disciple of Osama bin Laden – would be the architect of the events of September 11, 2001, which went down in history as the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the United States. The attackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon towers, and a third planned attack, on the Capitol building, failed after the passengers managed to stop the terrorists, members of the Al-Qaeda organization. Almost 3,000 people were killed then.

Zawahiri was also allegedly involved in planning the attack on the USS Cole in Port Aden on October 12, 2000, in which 17 American sailors were killed. He was also charged with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and injured more than 5,000.

Zawahiri also played a major role in the 11 March 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid, in which 192 people, including 16 Romanians, were killed and more than 2,000 injured after four trains bound for Atocha station were destroyed by an explosion. bombs It was the largest terrorist attack in Europe after the tragedy in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, which killed 270 people, and after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, which killed 2,978 people.

Ayman al-Zawahiri is also said to have been involved in the planning of the July 7, 2005, attacks in London, where four explosions took place in less than an hour, including three on the London Underground and one on a bus. 52 people died, about 700 more were injured.

The “face” of the terrorist group

Zawahiri took over Al-Qaeda in 2011 after the terrorist organization’s founder, Osama bin Laden, was killed by the US military in Pakistan. Before becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, Zawahiri played an important role in it, serving as the group’s deputy since 1998.

After the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Zawahiri rebuilt al-Qaeda’s leadership structures in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and restructured the group, gathering autonomous networks and affiliates in the region.

Zawahiri was often the “face” of the terrorist group, constantly broadcasting video messages while bin Laden was in hiding.

His death is considered the biggest blow to the terrorist group since the death of bin Laden 11 years ago. (Source: ABC News)