
SANAA, June 15 -- Top al-Qaidaleader Nasir al-Wuhayshi was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, security sources told Xinhua on Monday night.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi was killed along with several al-Qaida memebers in Mukalla city, the provincial capital of Yemen's southeastern Hadramount province on Friday, two security officials based in Sanaa told Xinhua. They asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak to media.
Local media confirmed his death, saying Qasim al-Raimi, AQAP military commander, was elected to replace al-Wuhayshi. However, the al-Qaida group has not released any statement.
It is a heavy blow to the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is considered by Washington as the most dangerous terrorist network in the Middle East.
Al-Wuhayshi, born in Yemen's southern province of al-Bayda, Osama Bin Laden's personal secretary during 1990s, fled Afghanistanto Iranin 2002, where he was arrested and repatriated to Yemen. He had been jailed in Sanaa until he escaped along with 22 other prisoners in February 2006 through a 44-metre tunnel.
He established AQAP in 2009 after the merger of Saudi and Yemeni branches, and declared in July 2011 the group's allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of al-Qaida's global network, after the death of its founder Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Under his leadership, the AQAP carried out a number of attacks on some Western countries, including a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner and attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris earlier this year.
Abandoned village swallowed by nature
Graduation: the time to show beauty in strength
School life of students in a military college
Top 16 Chinese cities with the best air quality in 2014
Mysterious “sky road” in Mount Dawagengzha
Students with Weifang Medical University take graduation photos
PLA soldiers conduct 10-kilometer long range raid
Stars who aced national exams
PLA helicopters travel 2,000 kilometers in maneuver drill
Hillary’s speech offers clue to Sino-US ties
Make me a genius
Weak yen weighing on China’s exportsDay|Week