led to what biden called a precision strike targeting the most wanted terrorist. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. zawahiri s death comes 11 years after the u.s. killed osama bin laden. at one point he was bin laden s personal physician. jasmine wright has more on biden s decision to take him out, and ben wedeman joining us with the details on the strike itself. let s start with the strike. it was months in the making. what more do we know about the operation itself? reporter: basically it was done by a drone that fired two hell fire missiles on to the balcony of the building that ayman al zawahiri and his family were living in in kabul, it happened at 6:18 a.m. local time in kabul. and this obviously, yes, as we ve heard time and time again, this was an operation long in the making. but what is interesting is that until now it is
so alex, did the u.s. have any help on the ground from sources who were not americans? reporter: well, alisyn and victor, that is a terrific question. it s one of the many that we still have about how this intelligence was gathered and of course how this culminated in the killing of ayman al zawahiri. it s certainly possible that there were afghans acting as intelligence assets or agents on the ground, but for now, the administration is not detailing what they call the sources and methods that helped them gather this intelligence. it s very safe to assume that much of this intelligence was gathered from the sky through visual methods, drones and satellites as well as through what s known as signals intelligence, basically intercepting communications. but this was a months-long process. the white house saying today that this took most of the year, and president biden was first briefed in april when there were indications that zawahiri had moved not just to afghanistan but to
everything except what matters most. emergency shelters are opening across eastern kentucky including a baptist church in hazard. nicole s niece is staying here with her family. i woke up and heard a loud noise, and i looked out and it was already halfway up our living room window. reporter: she tells us they got out with only the clothing on their backs. there is nothing left. everything is destroyed. reporter: and her sister says this is not the first tragedy for her family. two years ago we lost everything to a fire and we were just now getting back on our feet. it is devastating that we have to go through it again so soon. reporter: dianne gallagher, hindman, kentucky, cnn. and the mckeinney fire is near the oregon state line and now the largest wildfire this