Al Qaeda Confirms Death of One of its Senior Leaders in US Airstrike in Marib

JAKARTA - Al Qaeda on Sunday confirmed the death of a senior leader in its Yemen branch in an alleged airstrike by the United States (US) last month.

Hamad bin Hamoud Al Tamimi, a Saudi-born born also known as Abdel Aziz Al Adnani, was killed in a drone strike on February 26 that targeted his residence in Marib Province, Yemen, reported The National News, March 6.

Tamimi's death was reported on Wednesday by AFP, which cited local government and security sources who identified him as the top leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The United States considers AQAP one of the group's most dangerous offshoots.

A statement from AQAP identified him as a media official who previously managed external operations within the group, including those attacking American interests, according to monitoring organization SITE Intelligence.

AQAP said Tamimi spent nearly four years in prison in Saudi Arabia before traveling to Yemen in 2013, where he expressed a desire to attack "vital" American interests and carried out a suicide attack himself.

The source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that Tamimi chairs AQAP's leadership council and acts as the militant group's "judge".

SITE said the terrorist group's statement noted another media official, Abu Nasser Al Hadhrami, was a "victim of the attack".

AQAP and rival militants loyal to ISIS have thrived in the chaos of eight years of Yemen's civil war, which pitted the Saudi-backed government against Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

The group has been waging an insurgency against the Houthis and government forces as well as sporadic attacks abroad.

Its leaders have been targeted in US drone wars for more than two decades, but the number of reported attacks has declined in recent years.

The February 26 attack came a month after three suspected AQAP militants were killed in a suspected US drone strike on a car, also in Marib Province.

In 2015, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervened to support the government, after the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and caused what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions displaced.