The United States killed the top leader of Al-Qaeda and longtime lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan early on Sunday morning.

US President Joe Biden said in a speech from the White House on Monday night that the strike was meticulously planned and resulted in no civilian casualties. A senior US official speaking on the condition of anonymity told reporters that members of Zawahiri's family were present in the house at the time of the strike, but expressed confidence that neither they nor any other individuals were harmed.

Zawahiri was killed by two Hellfire missiles fired from a US drone while on the balcony of his safe house in downtown Kabul at 6:18 a.m. Sunday, local time, the senior administration official told reporters. The US military has not claimed the targeted killing, which suggests it was likely carried out by the CIA.

Born in Giza, Egypt in 1951, Zawahiri took the reins of Al-Qaeda after its long-time leader bin Laden was killed in a US Navy SEAL raid in Abottabad, Pakistan in 2011. A physician by training and veteran leader of the now-defunct Egyptian Islamic Jihad group, Zawahiri had joined bin Laden's organization by 1998 and served as his deputy through the September 11th attacks on the US.