The U.S. has killed top al-Qaida leader and key 9/11 plotter, Ayman al-Zawahiri

A senior military official has confirmed with NPR that a strike carried out by the U.S. has killed top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian eye doctor, had served as Osama bin Laden's deputy and took over al-Qaida after the U.S. killed bin Laden in May 2011. But al-Qaida members had complained that he was comparatively uninspiring. The two men fought had together in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Updated August 1, 2022 at 6:52 PM ET

Zawahiri helped found Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Al-Qaida was never able to regain its status as the pre-eminent terrorist organization after bin Laden's death, and faced newer, more brutal, rivals, such as the Islamic State.

This story will be updated. [Copyright 2022 NPR]