Al-Zawahri’s path went from Cairo clinic to top of al-Qaida

By LEE KEATH
Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The doors of jihad opened for Ayman al-Zawahri as a young doctor in a Cairo clinic. That’s when a visitor arrived with a tempting offer: a chance to treat Islamic fighters battling Soviet forces in Afghanistan. With that offer in 1980, al-Zawahri embarked on a life that over three decades took him to the top of the most feared terrorist group in the world, al-Qaida, after the death of Osama bin Laden. At that point, he was already an experienced militant who had sought the overthrow of Egypt’s “infidel” regime since the age of 15. Al-Zawahri was killed over the weekend by a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan. He was 71.