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Terrorist group Al Qaeda on Friday released an undated 35-minute video of its killed leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, reported Arab News citing Reuters.
The group claims that the recording was narrated by Al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a US drone strike earlier this year, according to intelligence group SITE. The recording was undated and the transcript did not clearly point toward a time frame for when it could have been made. A key 9/11 plotter, Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan by a US drone on the morning of July 31. The prospect of Pakistani involvement in Zawahiri's targeting, meanwhile, has emerged as a contentious issue, even if neither the US nor Pakistan has so far publicly acknowledged such a role. Zawahiri was reported to be living in Pakistan till the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, probably under the protection of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), reported European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS). The think-tank, quoting a report by the New York Times, said for many years it was believed that Zawahiri was hiding in the border area of Pakistan and it remains unclear why he returned to Afghanistan. Following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, it is believed that Zawahiri's family returned to the safe house in Kabul. Reports quoting top intelligence sources have also claimed that Zawahiri was being sheltered in Karachi and that sometime after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, he was moved to Kabul through the Chaman border by the Haqqani network. Over the role of Pakistan in Zawahiri's killing, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Michael Rubin said he is convinced that Pakistan had a role in Zawahiri's killing. He underlined, "Pakistan's economy is in danger, and the country is in danger of collapse." (ANI)
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