Pakistani airspace not used in drone attack on Ayman al-Zawahiri: officials

Islamabad: Senior Pakistani security officials on Tuesday said Americans did not ask for and neither did they require intelligence cooperation in the drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda leader Dr.Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Speaking to senior Pakistani journalist Salman Masood, the officials said Pakistan’s airspace was not used for the drone flight.

After years of tracking him down, US armed forces fired two Hellfire missiles from a drone flying above the Afghan capital, striking Zawahiri’s safe house and killing him, President Joe Biden announced on Monday.

US officials described an operation as meticulously planned as that which killed bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout in 2011.

The strike involved a US drone, armed with two precision-guided Hellfire missiles, which were launched at 6:18 am Sunday, Kabul time.