SANAA (Web Desk) – Al-Qaeda has confirmed the death of Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the chief of their offshoot group in the Arabian Peninsula in a US drone strike in Yemen.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) made the announcement in an online video, reported BBC. The group’s military chief Qasim al-Raymi has been named Wuhayshi’s successor.
Wuhayshi was considered as second-in-command in al-Qaeda and was a former private secretary to Osama Bin Laden. “He built one of the most active al-Qaeda branches,” say US officials.
Earlier, al-Masdar Online, a Yemini news group reported that the AQAP chief was killed in an attack in Hadramwat province last Friday.
The Pentagon has claimed the killing of Wuhayshi as ‘the biggest strike on al-Qaeda since Bin Laden’s death in Pakistan in 2011’. The US had announced bounty of $10 million on AQAP chief.
