CIA reveals model used to plan drone ops against Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri
Sep 25, 2022
Washington [US], September 25 : US intelligence agency, in its museum, has displayed the replica of Ayman al-Zawahiri's hideout which was used to plan the US drone operation that killed the Al-Qaeda chief last month, media reports said.
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Virginia headquarters is the organization's museum, which has a scale replica of the five-story house with white walls and three partially covered balconies where the al-Qaeda chief was killed, reported Khaama Press.
The museum is only open to guests and staff of the agency; it is not open to the public. However, to highlight the agency's history and accomplishments, the CIA has reportedly allowed the journalists to tour the museum. The museum had recently been renovated on the occasion of the CIA's 75th anniversary, reported Khaama Press.
On July 31, the United States conducted a precision counterterrorism strike in Afghanistan that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy and successor as leader of Al-Qaeda.
Al- Zawahiri was one of the masterminds of the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and had continued to urge his followers to attack the United States.
President Joe Biden in a televised address announced that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in an air strike by the United States stating that "Justice has been delivered."
"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 had said.
The strike was conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was carried out by an Air Force drone. The official claimed that al-Zawahiri was the only person killed in the strike and that none of his family members was injured.
A senior US official noted that Zawahiri's presence in the Afghan capital Kabul was a "clear violation" of a deal the Taliban had signed with the US in Doha in 2020 that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
