Ayman al-Zawahiri
(Picture: SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP/AFP via)Washington has issued a warning to US travellers overseas of “higher potential for anti-American violence” in the wake of the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
His death could prompt al Qaeda supporters or other linked terror groups to target US facilities and personnel, the US state department said.
Al-Zawahiri was killed by a US drone strike on his safe house in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday.
He was wanted as a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US in which nearly 3,000 people died.
“The Department of State believes there is a higher potential for anti-American violence given the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri on 31 July 2022,” the department said in its worldwide caution update.
“Current information suggests that terrorist organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks against US interests in multiple regions across the globe,” it added.
“These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings. Following Al-Zawahiri’s death, supporters of al Qaeda, or its affiliated terrorist organisations, may seek to attack US facilities, personnel, or citizens.”
US citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a “high level of vigilance and practice good situational awareness” when travelling abroad, the alert added.
President Biden, when he confirmed the death of Al-Zawahiri, said the al Qaeda leader, who took over running the terrorist group after the US killing of Osama Bin Laden, had carved “a trail of murder and violence” against American citizens.
He said he had also masterminded other acts of violence, including the suicide bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in Aden in October 2000, which killed 17 US sailors, and the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 223 died.
The White House said last night it had no DNA confirmation of Al-Zawahiri’s death but had verified it through “multiple” other sources. Spokesman John Kirby told a news conference: “Quite frankly, based on multiple sources and methods that we’ve gathered information from, we don’t need it.”
He said that US authorities had “visual evidence and evidence collected through other means” that “led us to the certainty before that this was the guy, and that led us to the conclusion after, with a high degree of confidence, that he was no more”. Mr Kirby said the US assessment included going on “what people on the ground did afterwards”.
