Biden hopes al-Qaida strike brings comfort to 9/11 victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expressing hope that the killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Biden made the comments Monday evening as he confirmed that a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Biden says, “Justice has been delivered,” adding, “This terrorist leader is no more.” He says U.S. intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The president approved the operation last week and it was carried out Sunday.

Al-Zawahri’s path went from Cairo clinic to top of al-Qaida

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The doors of jihad opened for Ayman al-Zawahri as a young doctor in a Cairo clinic. That’s when a visitor arrived with a tempting offer: a chance to treat Islamic fighters battling Soviet forces in Afghanistan. With that offer in 1980, al-Zawahri embarked on a life that over three decades took him to the top of the most feared terrorist group in the world, al-Qaida, after the death of Osama bin Laden. At that point, he was already an experienced militant who had sought the overthrow of Egypt’s “infidel” regime since the age of 15. Al-Zawahri was killed over the weekend by a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan. He was 71.