The Taliban have not found the body of Ayman al-Zawahiri and are continuing investigations, group spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday, after the United States said they killed the al Qaeda leader in an airstrike in Kabul last month.
The United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his hideout in July, US officials said, in the biggest blow to al Qaeda since US Navy SEALS shot dead Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago.
"For several years the US government has been aware of a network that we assessed supported Zawahiri," a senior administration official told reporters at the time.
But it was only this year that US intelligence learned that his family, his wife, his daughter and her children, had moved to the Afghan capital.
They were careful, the official said, exercising "longstanding terrorist tradecraft" to prevent anyone tracking them to the Qaeda leader.
Still, eventually Zawahiri showed up, and never left.
"We identified Zawahiri on multiple occasions for sustained periods of time on the balcony," the official said.
An attack plan developed over May and June. The United States constantly monitored the multi-story residence -- just how the official would not say -- to understand the family's pattern of life.
