Arabian al-Qaeda number two confirmed dead
17/07 09:55 CET
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A senior member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula has been confirmed dead in a US drone strike in Yemen.
Yemeni authorities announced in January that they had killed the Arabian al-Qaeda’s number two, Said al-Shehrin, the preceding November.However it is only now that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has confirmed it.
Al-Shehri had been a prisoner in Guantanamo where he says he was tortured. On his release in 2007 he was put in a rehabilitation programme in Saudi Arabia for returned Guantanamo prisoners but escaped, rejoining al-Qaeda in Yemen.
AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger between the Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al Qaeda following a clamping down on the Saudi group by the government, forcing many to take refuge in Yemen.
The US views AQAP as the most active and deadly wing of al-Qaeda’s network.
