Al-Qaeda boss Ayman al-Zawahiri dies of asthma in Afghan mountain shelter, reports claim

Leader of AL-QAEDA Ayman al-Zawahiri who took office after the death of Osama bin Laden is said to have died in Afghanistan.

Al-Zawahiri – sometimes called Dr Death – last appeared in a video message to the group on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

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Arabic News reports that the terrorist, 68, died of natural causes related to asthma citing four sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

U.S. intelligence officials are said to be aware of the reports and are trying to confirm whether or not they are true.

Sun Online has contacted the UK Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Office.

An al-Qaeda translator told Arab News: “He died last week in Ghazni. He died of asthma because there was no official treatment.”

A Pakistani security official added: “We believe he is no longer alive. We are determined that he died of natural causes.”

Another source close to al-Qaeda said he died earlier this month and a small number of followers attended his funeral in Ghazni.

“What we do know is that he had some breathing problems and died somewhere in Afghanistan,” they said.

Other security sources were cited as aware that the terrorist was “extremely ill” and another said he was in “unstable health”.

Comes after the death of the second al-Qaeda member in command Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri.

He is said to have been shot dead along with his daughter by two people killed on U.S. orders on a motorcycle in Tehran, Iran, in August.

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It also follows the death of Hamza bin Laden – Osama’s son – in a 2019 US counterterrorism operation.

All three of their deaths in such rapid success open a potential power vacuum at the head of the bad organization.

The FBI still lists al-Masri and al-Zawahiri on their most wanted terrorist site, with the gift given to the head of al-Qaeda chief $ 25 million.

The terrorist is described as “armed and dangerous”.

He was indicted for his role in the devastating attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 224 people and injured thousands more in 1998.

In 2005, he praised the 7/7 bombings in London, which left 56 dead
Britain one of the fiercest enemies of Islam.

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Al-Zawahiri, a former Egyptian eye surgeon, succeeded bin Laden after he was killed by US special forces during a bold attack on his compound in 2011.

He was seen as the brain of the global terrorist network while bin Laden was the charismatic leader.

The terrorist has been in hiding for almost 20 years, despite a hunt launched after the 9/11 attacks.

He last appeared in a 45-minute video message this September to celebrate the brutality of the World Trade Center that killed 2,996 people.

“The flames of war between the Crusaders and the Muslims have not been extinguished,” the terrorist said.

Al-Zawahiri also raged against the US for tightening ties with Israel.

And he accused any Muslim nation of normalizing relations with Israel as “dangerous enemies.”

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Al-Zawahiri was born into a family of wealthy doctors and scholars in Cairo, with his grandfather being the great imam of al-Azhar, the center of Sunni Islamic teaching in the Middle East.

Zawahiri excelled in school and liked poetry but is said to have aversion to violent sports.

He was only 15 years old when he was first arrested for being in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1974, he graduated from Cairo University Medical School, where his father was a professor.

Four years later he received a master’s degree in surgery and married a philosophy student before being a practicing physician.

He joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. In 1981 he was among hundreds of militants gathered after President Anwar Sadat was shot dead for signing a peace deal with Israel.

He was convicted of possession of a firearm and beaten during his three-year sentence.

Upon his release, he left for Saudi Arabia, where he met with bin Laden. He became his right-hand man when he founded al-Qaeda in 1988.

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