Taliban say they’ve not found body of Zawahiri

KABUL: The Taliban have not found the body of Ayman al-Zawahiri and are continuing investigations, group spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday after the United States said they killed the al-Qaeda leader in an airstrike in Kabul last month.

The United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his hideout in July, US officials said, in the biggest blow to al-Qaeda since US Navy SEALS shot dead Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago.

His death in Kabul raised questions about whether he received sanctuary from the Taliban who had assured the United States as part of a 2020 agreement on the withdrawal of US-led forces that they would not harbour other militant groups.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, was closely involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and was one of the world’s most wanted men.

US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, had said the United States carried out a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on the morning of July 31. Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more, Biden had said in remarks from the White House.

The United States identified this year that Zawahiri’s wife, daughter and her children had relocated to a safe house in Kabul, then identified that Zawahiri was there as well, the official had added. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said the Taliban had grossly violated the agreement by hosting and sheltering Zawahiri.