Does the killing of al-Zawahiri make Americans safer? It's complicated

The State Department warns that there is a "higher potential for anti-American violence" following the U.S. killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul over the weekend.

In a "Worldwide Caution" advisory issued Tuesday, the department noted that al-Zawahiri — an architect of terrorist attacks including 9/11 and the 2000 USS Cole bombing — had urged his followers to attack the U.S., and that supporters of al-Qaida or affiliate organizations may seek to do so in the wake of his death.

"Current information suggests that terrorist organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions across the globe," it added. "These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings."

Al-Qaida has not carried out a major attack against a Western target since the 2015 shooting in Paris at the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.