Notorious al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by two missiles fired at his Kabul home – but photos showed no signs of an explosion, and US officials say no one else was hurt.
This points to the re-use of the Macabre Hellfire R9X by the United States, a warhead-less missile believed to be equipped with six razor-like blades that extend from the fuselage that slam through its target. Slices but doesn’t explode.
Never publicly acknowledged by the Pentagon or the CIA – two US agencies best known for targeted killings of extremist leaders – R9X first appeared in March 2017 when senior al-Qaeda leader Abu al-Khair Al-Masri was killed in a drone strike. While traveling in a car in Syria.
Photos of the vehicle showed a large hole through the roof, with the car’s metal, and all of the interior, including its occupants, physically cut out. But the front and rear of the car remained intact.
Until then, Hellfire missiles – fired by drones in targeted attacks – were known to cause powerful explosions and often widespread collateral damage and deaths.
Since 2017, a handful of other finely targeted attacks have shown similar results.
Details of the mysterious weapon leaked out, and it was dubbed “Flying Jinsu” after a famous 1980s television ad for an apparently Japanese kitchen knife that cleanly pierced through aluminum cans. Will cut and stay perfectly sharp.
Also called the “ninja bomb”, the missile has become the US weapon of choice for killing leaders of extremist groups while avoiding civilian casualties.
Apparently the same thing happened with Zawahiri.
A US official told reporters that on the morning of July 31, Zawahiri was standing alone on the balcony of his Kabul residence when a US drone fired two Hellfires.
Clear photographs of the building show flying windows on one floor, but the rest of the building, including the windows on the other floors, is still intact.
The official said Zawahiri’s family members were present in the house, but “they were not deliberately targeted and harmed.”
“We have no indication that civilians were harmed in this attack,” the official said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)