Yemen al-Qaida leader killed by US drone strike

Al-Qaida has confirmed that Nasir al-Wuhayshi, its second-in-command and leader of its powerful Yemeni affiliate, has been killed in a US strike.

In a video statement released early on Tuesday by the media wing of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group confirmed his death and said his deputy, Qassim al-Rimi, has been named its new leader.

Wuhayshi was the deputy of the al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and once served as Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary.

The Washington Post reported that Wuhayshi was targeted in a CIA drone strike last week. US officials have declined to confirm the CIA’s role.

AQAP is considered the terror group most capable of striking American interests.

Arab media reports earlier said three suspected al-Qaida members were killed on 9 June in an apparent US drone strike in Mukalla, a south-eastern port city in Yemen.

Before al-Qaida’s confirmation, Michael McCaul, a Republican who chairs the House of Representatives’ homeland security committee, described reports of Wuhayshi’s death as “a major blow to Islamist terrorists who are plotting daily to attack America”.

Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the death “would be a significant blow to the core of the terrorist organisation and its most dangerous franchise”.

As al-Qaida leaders have been captured or killed, Schiff said, “Zawahri has been increasingly reliant on a small cadre of loyal lieutenants. As one of those top lieutenants, Wuhayshi has played an important role in keeping al-Qaida factions aligned with Zawahri in the face of rival pressures” from the Islamic State group.

The group’s master bombmaker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, is believed to still be alive. He is thought to have designed bombs that were slipped past security and placed on three separate American-bound airplanes, although none of them exploded.

(The Guardian)