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Al Qaeda chief Aiman al-Zawahiri (2006)
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Anonymous / dpa
He grew up sheltered in a posh district of Cairo, studied medicine - and founded a terrorist cell.
Then he planned the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA with around 3000 dead.
Now the US has killed the Egyptian Islamist and al-Qaeda boss Aiman al-Zawahiri.
'Justice has been served.
This terrorist leader is no longer alive,” US President Joe Biden said in a televised address.
The successful operation is a clear signal to all enemies of the USA: "No matter how long it takes, no matter where you are hiding: If you are a threat to our population, the USA will find you and eliminate you."
The killing of the 71-year-old successor to Osama bin Laden has been well received by politicians around the world.
The news of his death is proof "that you can eradicate terrorism without being at war with Afghanistan," former US President Barack Obama wrote on Twitter.
"And I hope it brings a measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone who suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda."
Al-Zawahiri had taken over the leadership of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.
The Egyptian was considered a central figure behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, which killed around 3,000 people.
The United States put a $25 million bounty on his head.
"The death of Aiman al-Zawahiri is a step towards a safer world," wrote Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Canada will continue to work with its partners to combat terrorist threats and “to protect people here and in the world”.
The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry said Zawahiri was seen as one of the terrorist leaders "who planned and carried out the most heinous terrorist attacks in the United States and Saudi Arabia."
Author Ahmed Mansour welcomed the killing of the Islamist on Twitter.
Sawahiri is "one of the fathers of modern terror".
Instead of saving people as a trained doctor, »he sent people to their deaths in the name of religious fanaticism!
It's a good thing he was killed today."
US Republican Senator Marco Rubio said, "The world is safer without him, and this strike demonstrates our ongoing pledge to hunt down all terrorists responsible for 9/11 who pose a threat to the United States."
Shelter in Kabul
The US secret services located the terrorist leader in Kabul at the beginning of the year, said Biden.
Al-Zawahiri lived there with his family.
The action had been prepared for months.
A week ago he then gave the order to eliminate al-Zawahiri, said the US President.
No other person was killed or injured in the attack.
The fact that Sawahiri was able to go into hiding in Kabul raises the question of whether the Taliban supported the Qiada boss.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that "given the unwillingness or inability of the Taliban" to continue to support the people of Afghanistan with humanitarian aid and uphold their human rights, "especially those of women and girls".
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