# Zawahiri assassination

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Zawahiri assassination," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/zawahiri-assassination/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of the drone strike that killed al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, using a bladed, warhead-less missile fired as he stepped onto a balcony to smoke, deliberately chosen to avoid killing the women and children inside.*

- **Target:** Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two
- **Weapon:** Warhead-less bladed missile

The **Zawahiri assassination** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of the drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two. The missile, he notes, carried *no warhead*, chosen deliberately to avoid killing the women and children inside the apartment. When Zawahiri stepped onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette, the missile was fired and *"went completely through his body,"* with no explosion.[1][2] Kiriakou contrasts the care taken here with the [Obama-era drone strikes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tuesday-morning-kill-list) that *"hit every wedding."*[3]

Kiriakou has separately noted, in passing, that a new al-Zawahiri podcast reportedly surfaced despite the U.S. having claimed to have killed him in a drone strike in Afghanistan the previous summer.[4]

## See also

- [Tuesday morning kill list](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tuesday-morning-kill-list)
- [Anwar al-Awlaki](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/anwar-al-awlaki)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou Exposes Epstein Network, Mossad Allegations & Hidden Elite Intelligence Files (2026-05-29), at 11:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGp3UKZSEI&t=712s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-29-jk-podcast-epstein-network-mossad/
2. John Kiriakou Exposes Epstein Network, Mossad Allegations & Hidden Elite Intelligence Files (2026-05-29), at 12:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGp3UKZSEI&t=743s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-29-jk-podcast-epstein-network-mossad/
3. John Kiriakou Exposes Epstein Network, Mossad Allegations & Hidden Elite Intelligence Files (2026-05-29), at 12:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGp3UKZSEI&t=774s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-29-jk-podcast-epstein-network-mossad/
4. Ep. 5832 - John Kiriakou on the CIA, FBI, JFK and 9/11 - (2023-01-04), at 59:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1tRqZKo4q0&t=3575s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-04-scott-horton/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/zawahiri-assassination/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt