Al Qaeda has released a 35-minute recording the group claims was narrated by its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a US raid in August 2022, SITE intelligence group said on Friday.
The recording was undated and the transcript did not clearly point towards a time frame for when it could have been made, Reuters reported.
Zawahiri was killed in a US strike in Afghanistan, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
"At my direction, the United States successfully concluded an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed the emir of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri," US President Joe Biden said after the killing of Zawahiri in August.
He also said that Zawahiri was bin Laden’s leader, was his number-two man, and his deputy at the time of the terrorist attack of 9/11.
"He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on American soil," Biden said in his statement at the time.