Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda chief, was killed in a US drone strike, President Joe Biden informed the world on Monday. He was killed in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Sunday. After Osama Bin Laden's death in Pakistan in 2011, Ayman al-Zawahiri was the flagbearer of the group's terrorism ideals. However, the emergence of ISIS ensured the sidelining of the group and the man, once the most dreaded terrorist in the world.
Zawahiri came from a wealthy background. He was a grandson of the grand imam of Al Azhar, one of Islam's most important mosques. He was the son of a pharmacology professor. He came in touch with Islamic fundamentalists at the age of 15. He was influenced by the ideas of Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb, an Islamist executed in 1966 on charges of trying to overthrow the state. Studying medicine in the 1970s, he went to the cinema, listened to music and joked with friends.
Al-Zawahiri entered the world of terrorism in 1981 with the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981. Standing in a cage in an Egyptian court, Zawahiri shouted, "We have sacrificed and we are still ready for more sacrifices until the victory of Islam".
He was acquitted in the main case related to the murder of the president. He spent three years in jail for possessing illegal firearms.
Zawahiri is a trained surgeon. He is called The Doctor in terrorism circles.
After his release, he went to Pakistan and worked with the Red Crescent. He treated the guerillas fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During this time he came in contact with Osama Bin Laden, a highly educated man from a wealthy Saudi Arabia family.
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He started spearheading Islamic Jihad in Egypt in 1993. The country's government came down heavily on the campaign after an assassination attempt on President Hosni Mubarak in 1995. Zawahiri responded to the government's crackdown with a bomb attack on Egypt's Embassy in Pakistan, killing 16 people.
He took over al-Qaeda after Osama's death in 2011. He promised more attacks on Western countries. He said, "You will not dream of security until we live it as a reality and until you leave the lands of the Muslims".
However, he didn't have the same impact on the minds of those leading the fight against terrorism as his predecessor.
Zawahiri was involved in some of al Qaeda`s biggest operations, helping organise the 2001 attacks, when airliners hijacked by al Qaeda were used to kill 3,000 people in the United States.
He was indicted for his role in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
With inputs from Reuters
