The Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida says a U.S. drone strike has killed a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who rose to become the group’s No. 2 figure.
The announcement, posted on militant websites, gives no date for the death of Saudi-born Saeed al-Shihri.
In January, Yemen’s official SABA news agency had reported that al-Shihri died of wounds from a drone strike three months earlier.
The monitoring group SITE said today that al-Shihri was eulogized in the video by a senior official in the terrorist group, known as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Al-Shihri fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in Guantanamo. He was returned to Saudi Arabia in late 2007 and later fled to Yemen to join the al-Qaida branch there.
Guest
- Gregory Johnsen, author of “The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia.” He tweets @gregorydjohnsen.
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