Ayman al-Zawahri

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Taliban: We Didn't Know Where al-Zawahri Was

US government claims otherwise

(Newser) - The Taliban broke its silence Thursday, days after a US drone strike killed al-Qaeda's top leader in Afghanistan's capital, acknowledging his slaying and pledging to launch an investigation. The killing of Ayman al-Zawahri on the balcony of a Kabul safehouse Sunday has further strained relations between the Taliban...

After Kabul Strike, Aid Worker Recognizes Former Home

'It was a nice balcony,' he says after strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahri

(Newser) - When news reports showed the Kabul villa where al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a US drone strike Sunday, American aid worker Dan Smock was startled. He recognized the distinctive home he shared with several colleagues while working on a US government-funded project. "Reports said the CIA had...

Al-Zawahri's Killing Reveals a Worrisome Alliance

Al-Qaeda leader must have been hiding in Kabul with Taliban's blessing: Fred Kaplan

(Newser) - For journalist Fred Kaplan, the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri stands out not so much for the event itself. Al-Qaeda "is far from the potent global force that it was a decade ago," writes Kaplan at Slate , and while al-Zawahri certainly had a key role in planning...

Al-Zawahri's Habit of Sitting on Balcony Was His Undoing

Allowed US to target him in strike that wouldn't kill anyone else

(Newser) - As the sun was rising in Kabul on Sunday, two Hellfire missiles fired by a US drone ended Ayman al-Zawahri's decade-long reign as the leader of al-Qaeda. The seeds of the audacious counterterrorism operation had been planted over many months. US officials had built a scale model of the...

Ayman al-Zawahri, From Surgeon to al-Qaeda Leader
The Story of
bin Laden's
Slain Successor
profile
Aug 2, 2022 6:34 AM CDT

The Story of bin Laden's Slain Successor

Ayman al-Zawahri went from surgeon to al-Qaeda leader, was killed over the weekend

(Newser) - Before he became Osama bin Laden's deputy, and later the leader of al-Qaeda after bin Laden was killed, Ayman al-Zawahri was a brilliant student in Egypt, where he got a master's degree in surgery in 1978. He also, at age 15 in 1966, was part of forming an...

Biden: 'Justice Has Been Delivered' to al-Qaeda Leader

CIA drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahri in Kabul

(Newser) - Update: This file has been updated with more details and President Biden's address. Ayman al-Zawahri, leader of al-Qaeda since the death of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, President Biden told the nation Monday evening. "Justice has been delivered,"...

Al-Qaeda: 'Gravest Consequences' if US Executes Tsarnaev

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death last year

(Newser) - The leader of al-Qaeda is threatening the US with the "gravest consequences" if Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is executed, the Guardian reports. "If the US administration kills our brother the hero Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or any Muslim, [it] will bring America's nationals the gravest consequences," Ayman al-Zawahri...

Khorasan Threat Was Kept Secret for Months

Al-Qaeda cell was cause of recent air security warnings

(Newser) - Not many people had heard of the Khorasan terror group until it emerged that many of the US-led airstrikes in Syria targeted the group—but some lawmakers say they've known about the threat for months, BuzzFeed reports. Rep. Peter King says he is surprised the name of the "...

Al-Qaeda Launches India Branch

Zawahri vows to wage jihad across subcontinent

(Newser) - With an even more brutal group of Islamic extremists capturing the world's attention, is al-Qaeda feeling neglected? In what analysts see as an effort to grab the spotlight from ISIS, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has announced the formation of an Indian branch of the terror network that will "...

Al-Qaeda Disowns Deadly ISIS Faction

Even as offshoot kills 2 Syrian rebel leaders

(Newser) - The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is "not a branch of al-Qaeda," Ayman al-Zawahiri declared in a statement posted online yesterday. "Al-Qaeda is not responsible for ISIS' actions," and has "no connection" to it, al-Qaeda General Command said, according to the BBC . It added...

Israel: Al-Qaeda Planned to Hit US Embassy

Authorities say they foiled plot in Tel Aviv and attacks elsewhere

(Newser) - Israel says it has foiled a major plot by al-Qaeda that included a planned attack on the US embassy in Tel Aviv, reports the AP . The Shin Bet security agency arrested three Palestinians it says were recruited indirectly by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The alleged plot called for suicide bombers...

Al-Qaeda Head to Militants: Think Smaller

Al-Zawahri likes the idea of attacks 'by one brother'

(Newser) - In a speech disseminated yesterday (a day after Sept. 11, points out Reuters) , al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri pushed militants to think smaller. He asserted that attacks "by one brother or a few of the brothers" would have a big effect, explaining that "we should bleed America economically by...

Brother of al-Qaeda Chief Arrested in Egypt

Zawahri's sibling ran own hard-line group

(Newser) - Egyptian authorities have arrested the younger brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri, a security official said today. Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, the city across the Nile from Cairo. He had been allied with ousted President Mohammed Morsi, whose...

Al-Qaeda 'Board Meeting' Prompted Alerts

Leader Zawahri was on conference call with 20 subordinates: Daily Beast

(Newser) - Most of the stories about the recent security alerts say they came about because the US intercepted communication between al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Yemen affiliate chief Nasser al-Wuhayshi. But the Daily Beast reports that this was no one-on-one call. In fact, representatives from about 20 al-Qaeda groups were on...

Bin Laden Groomed Rising al-Qaeda Leader, 36

Al-Wuhayshi, figure in new security alerts, served as his personal aide

(Newser) - The name Nasser al-Wuhayshi is starting to become more familiar to Americans, thanks to the recent spate of security alerts . It was messages between him and overall al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri that triggered US alarm. So who is he? Some snippets from various stories:
  • Wuhayshi is 36 and runs al-Qaeda
...

US Warns Americans: Get Out of Yemen

US drone strike takes out 4 members of al-Qaeda

(Newser) - American concern about the threat of an al-Qaeda attack is only intensifying. The State Department today ordered all non-essential government employees to leave Yemen, and it urged all American citizens there to do the same, reports Reuters . The development comes after news reports revealed that one of the key pieces...

Al-Qaeda Chief's Order to Attack Sparked Terror Alert

Yemen No.2 was ordered to carry out attack

(Newser) - The intercepted al-Qaeda message that sparked a spate of US embassy closings and travel warnings came from the very top. Ayman al-Zawahri, leader of al-Qaeda since the death of Osama bin Laden, had ordered the head of the terror group's Yemen-based affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to carry...

Syrian Jihadis Pledge Allegiance to al-Qaeda

But powerful al-Nusra denies reports of official merger

(Newser) - The head of Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group at the forefront of Syria's civil war, has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda honcho Ayman al-Zawahiri. What that means isn't exactly crystal clear at this point. While Al-Qaeda in Iraq says the groups have merged under the snappy title of the...

Al-Qaeda Leader Urges Kidnapping of Westerners

al-Zawahri wants to use them to free jihadists

(Newser) - The leader of al-Qaeda has urged Muslims to kidnap Westerners to exchange for imprisoned jihadists, including a blind cleric serving a life sentence in the United States for a 1993 plot to blow up New York City landmarks. In an undated two-hour videotape posted this week on militant forums, Ayman...

Al-Qaeda Leader Urges Holy War Over Islam Film

Ayman al-Zawahri praises attacks in Cairo, Benghazi

(Newser) - The leader of al-Qaeda has urged Muslims to wage holy war against the US and Israel over the Innocence of Muslims film that insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Ayman al-Zawahri also praised as "honest and zealous" demonstrators who breached US compounds in Cairo and Benghazi and called for more...

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