Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has confirmed the death in a US drone strike of its deputy leader Saeed al-Shehri, whose killing has been announced a number of times by Yemeni authorities.
“Sheikh Saeed al-Shehri, aka Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, was killed in a US drone strike,” said a leader in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ibrahim al-Rubaish in a video posted on Islamist websites Wednesday.
Rubaish gave no indication of when Shehri was killed.
Shehri had been hounded by Yemen’s security forces and had survived a number of attempts on his life.