Two Hellfire missiles fired from a drone killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, with surprisingly little collateral damage beyond the primary objective, indicating it may have been a version of the missile shrouded in secrecy and used by the United States to prevent non-combatant fatalities.
Images of the attack on social networks pointed to characteristics of a version modified Hellfire called the R9X, with six blades to damage targets, according to sources with knowledge of the weaponry. It is generally used against individual targets, such as militants in Syria.
Authorities said the missiles killed the al Qaeda leader, who was standing on a porch of his home in central Kabul, Afghanistan, over the weekend. It was the biggest blow to the militants since the 2011 assassination of Osama bin Laden.
A senior government official told reporters that two Hellfire missiles were fired from an unmanned aerial vehicle at Zawahiri. US officials said no one else was killed or injured during the attack.
US officials claimed that the CIA was responsible for the attack. The agency declined to comment.
Hellfire missiles, most manufactured by Lockheed Martin, are precision-guided munitions for air-to-land attacks that typically do great damage, knocking down entire buildings and killing or injuring many people in the vicinity.
Source: CNN Brasil
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