The second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been confirmed dead, AQAP said on Wednesday.



Said al-Shehri was killed in a U.S.-led drone strike in Yemen, senior AQAP official Ibrahim al-Rubaish said in a video statement posted online, according to Reuters.

He did not say when the strike occurred.

If the news is confirmed, Shehri would be one of the highest ranking al-Qaeda officials in AQAP to be killed since the organization first emerged.

This is believed to be the fourth time Shehri, of Saudi origin, has been reported killed.

Shehri was last reported killed in January 2013. The news was issued by the Yemeni government and its state news agency, and was confirmed by Mohammed al-Basha, a spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington, according to Foreign Policy Magazine.

In 2009 it was announced that he was killed by an American cruise missile and in September 2012, Yemeni news sites reported he was eliminated by a U.S. drone strike.

Shehri is reported to have been involved in the kidnapping of foreigners in Yemen and was allegedly the mastermind behind the 2008 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Yemen.

(With Reuters)

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:40 - GMT 06:40