Al-Qaeda’s number two and the chief of its Yemen-based affiliate has been killed in Yemen, the US confirmed Tuesday.
The National Security Council verified in a statement, the death of Nasir al-Wahishi, saying that it “strikes a major blow to AQAP [Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula], al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate, and to al-Qaeda more broadly.”
The council did not confirm how al-Wahishi was killed.
In a video statement released earlier Tuesday by the media wing of AQAP, the group said al-Wahishi was killed by a US airstrike in Yemen, and his deputy, Qassim al-Rimi, had been named his successor.
Wahishi led AQAP since 2009, and was responsible for the group’s plots to attack the US, its interests in the region and US allies, according to council spokesman Ned Price.
“Wahishi’s death removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating these groups,” Price said in a statement.
The US had placed a $10 million bounty on the militant leader as part of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program.
