Al Qaeda claims latest video narrated by Zawahiri, killed by US in Afghanistan

Al Qaeda has released a 35-minute video that the group claims was narrated by its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was reported to have been killed in a strike by the United States earlier this year, the SITE intelligence group stated on Friday.

The recording is said to be undated and the transcript did not clearly point towards a time frame for when the video could have been recorded.

Zawahiri – a key 9/11 plotter who had been in hiding for years – was reported to have been killed on the morning of July 31 in a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was considered the biggest raid on the terrorist organisation since the killing of its founder Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Both Bin Laden and Zawahiri were wanted by the United States for their roles in the 1998 United States embassy bombings, as well as the September 11 attacks.

The think-tank, quoting a report by the New York Times, has said that for many years Zawahiri was believed to be hiding in the border area of Pakistan and that it remained unclear why he returned to Afghanistan. His family had returned to the safe house in Kabul following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The operation to locate and kill him was the result of “careful, patient and persistent” work by the counterterrorism and intelligence community, a senior U.S. administration official was quoted as saying in reports.

Al Qaeda did not name a successor after Bin Laden’s death. However, former Egyptian special forces officer Saif al-Adel, mysterious and low-key, who is a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda, is considered by many to be the top contender.

The United States has offered up to $10 million in reward for any information leading to his arrest.