Terrorist group Al-Qaeda on Sunday (March 5) confirmed that a senior member of the jihadist group in Yemen has been killed in a suspected air strikes, said SITE Intelligence Group.
AFP reported citing security and local government sources that Hamad bin Hamoud al-Tamimi had been killed. The sources identified him as a top leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The United States regards AQAP among Al Qaeda’s more dangerous branches.
Tamimi, a Saudi also known as Abdel Aziz al-Adnani, died in a drone strike on February 26 that targeted his residence in war-torn Yemen’s northern Marib province, according to the statement reported by SITE, which monitors jihadist websites.
The statement identified Tamimi as a “media official” who “previously managed external operations in the group, including those striking American interests”
AQAP said Tamimi spent nearly four years in prison in Saudi Arabia before travelling to Yemen in 2013, where he expressed a desire to attack “vital” American interests and carry out a suicide attack himself.
The sources, requesting anonymity, told AFP Tamimi had headed AQAP’s leadership council and acted as the militant group’s “judge”.
SITE said the Al-Qaeda statement had noted another media official, Abu Nasser al-Hadhrami, was “a victim of the attack”.
AQAP and rival militants loyal to the Islamic State group have thrived in the chaos of Yemen’s eight-year civil war, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Iran-allied Huthi rebels.
(With inputs from agencies)
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