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US officials on Monday said that US forces in a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. In a televised address, President Joe Biden announced his death and said no civilian casualties were reported in the operation that was conducted over the weekend.
According to the official's account, Biden gave his green light for the strike on July 25 - as he was recovering in isolation from Covid-19.
However, pictures from the Kabul home where Zawahiri was living showed no signs of an explosion, pointing to the use again by the US of the macabre Hellfire R9X.
But, What is Hellfire 9X?
Hellfire 9X is also called the "ninja bomb". It is reportedly said that the missile has become the US weapon of choice for killing leaders of extremist groups while avoiding civilian casualties.
The missile is fired from a Predator drone. It has no warhead, but deploys six blades which fly in at high speed, crush and slice the targeted person.
This is the reason why it is called the "flying ginsu", after the 1980 TV commercial for Japanese kitchen knives that would cut cleanly through aluminum cans and remain perfectly sharp.
Some pictures posted online show the impact of these missiles. One of these old photos on Twitter claims to show a car destroyed by Hellfire R9X in Idlib, Syria.
Why are these missiles used in special cases?
In a report, the Wall Street Journal said that the missiles were born after former US President Barack Obama emphasized on avoiding civilian deaths in US airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and other countries.
The R9X variant of Hellfire is used only in specific circumstances, particularly when a terrorist leader has been pinpointed. It is intended to limit damage compared to typical missiles by reducing the risk of killing innocent civilians around the target.
