U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday, August 1, 2022, a U.S. missile strike over the weekend has killed one of the world's most wanted terrorists, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

For the past decade, Ayman al-Zawahiri headed al-Qaida, the Islamist terror group that spawned franchises around the world after the stunning attacks on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001.

The United States invaded Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks, and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was the prime target. U.S. forces killed him in Pakistan in 2011.

Al-Zawahiri, born in Egypt to a wealthy family and trained as a surgeon, took over the terror group in 2011. Before that, he was said to be bin Laden's personal doctor.

The confirmation of his death came more than an hour after the Taliban rulers in Kabul said a missile attack on Sunday against a residential compound in the Afghan capital was the work of an American drone.