CIA Likely Used ‘Ninja Bomb’ to Kill Terrorist Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

The U.S. laggard strike that killed Ayman al - Zawahiri , leader of the terrorist chemical group Al Qaeda , over the weekend was bear by the CIA using what was likely the Hellfire R9X missile , according to theNew Y0rk Timesand India’sHindustan Times . The missile is unique for not having any explosive material and or else deploy six retractable blades , which has earned it nicknames like the “ fly Ginsu ” and the Ninja bomb .

The projectile ’s beingness was first publically revealed in 2019 by a story in theWall Street Journal , which notice that the missile has been in economic consumption since at least February of 2017 and was being develop as early on as 2011 . The R9X is supposedly better at debar collateral wrong than a distinctive Hellfire missile since it does n’t explode , and putting to death using pure kinetic vim . It ’s kind of like an incus falling from the sky , as it ’s often described .

Photos station to social media purpose to showthe balconyin Kabul , Afghanistan where al - Zawahiri was bolt down seem to support the theme that the projectile used was of the R9X variety since there come out to be a very accurate hole in the building where al - Zawahiri was staying . No one else was killed , harmonize to the U.S. government , though that claim has yet to have been confirmed topically by the Taliban , which currently runs Afghanistan after the U.S. backdown last year .

File photo of a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile landing at a secret air base after flying a mission in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016.

It ’s believed that R9X missiles are most often used against cable car , leaving adistinctive holecoming through the windshield or roof — a weapon system that ’s supposedly so precise it often leaves other members of a targeted vehicle alive and whole . But in this case the missile was used to hit Zawahiri while he was out on his balcony .

The Hellfire R9X has been used in Libya , Syria , Iraq , Yemen , and Somalia , according to the Wall Street Journal , though the CIA and Department of Defense are still keep middling restrained about their deployment of this unusual and unique weapon .

The 71 - year - former Zawahiri has been on the U.S. hitting list for over two decades and has been tied to terrorist plots against American force around the globe . Zawahiri was also allegedly a schemer behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

A screenshot from a videotape aired August 5, 2006 on the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network shows Al-Qaeda’s then-second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri at an undisclosed place and time.

A screenshot from a videotape aired 2 March 2025 on the Qatar-basedAl-Jazeera television network shows Al-Qaeda’s then-second-in-command AymanAl-Zawahiri at an undisclosed place and time.Image: AFP Photo / Al Jazeera (Getty Images)

drone pipe tap conduct by the U.S. have been controversial for decades . Experimental drones have been used in everything fromWorld War IIto theVietnam War , but President George W. Bush kicked off the widespread use of drones in businesslike after the attacks on 9/11 . President Barack Obama expanded the drone programme dramatically after he came to office in 2009 and President Donald Trump expanded it even further when he take office in 2017 . And while President Joe Biden has reportedly burn back the number of drone ten-strike during his nearly two years in office , there have been inexcusable errors on his watch that have gotten innocent people killed .

The most mellow - visibility slaying of civilians under President Biden ’s presidency was on August 29 , 2021 , during the commonwealth ’s exit from Afghanistan . Ten people , including seven children , were kill after the U.S. war machine believed they were tail a terrorist affiliated with ISIS - K. It turn out the mortal they were tracking was in reality an aid worker in Afghanistan named Zemari Ahmadi , who was utilise by California - base Nutrition and Education International before he was killed .

TheNew York Timesobtained television of the approach against Ahmadi and other innocent hoi polloi through a Freedom of Information Act request , but no U.S. military service phallus were discipline for the attack .

Xbox8tbstorage