Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon with a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
One of the US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the CIA conducted a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
“in the weekends, United States of america A senior administration launched a counter-terrorism operation against a key al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan Officer Told.
“The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” the official said.
It was not immediately clear whether the United States, which does not have American troops on the ground, confirmed that Zawahiri had been killed.
Zawahiri’s death has been rumored several times in recent years, and her ill health has long been reported.
His death raises questions about whether Zawahiri had received asylum from the Taliban after the takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
The drone strike is the first known US attack inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021. This step may increase its credibility. Washingtonassurances that the United States can still deflect threats from Afghanistan without a military presence in the country.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement confirmed and strongly condemned the attack, calling it a violation of “international principles”.
US President Joe Biden will comment on what the White House has described as “a successful campaign against terrorism” at 7:30 pm (2330 GMT) on Monday.
There was a massive explosion in Kabul in the early hours of Sunday.
Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor earlier said, “A house in Sherpur was hit by a rocket. There were no casualties as the house was empty.”
A Taliban source, requesting anonymity, said there were reports of at least one drone flying over Kabul that morning.
The Rewards for Justice website said that Zawahiri, along with other senior al-Qaeda members, plotted the October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole naval vessel in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors and injuring more than 30.
He was indicted in the United States for his role in the August 7, 1998 bombings on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and injured more than 5,000.
Zawahiri’s whereabouts – rumored to be inside Pakistan’s tribal areas or Afghanistan – were unknown until the strike.
A video released in April in which he praised an Indian Muslim woman for defying a ban on wearing an Islamic head scarf, dispelled rumors that she had died.
When US-led forces toppled Afghanistan’s Taliban government in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States, both bin Laden and Zawahiri escaped capture.
Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.
watch Biden: Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahri ‘no more’