- Yemeni authorities announced Thursday the death of number two of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Saudi Said Ali al-Chehri, who had survived several military operations.
In a statement, the committee Higher National Security announced that Yemen's al-Said Chehri, co-founder of AQAP, had succumbed to his injuries in a terrorist operation November 28, 2012 in the province of Saada northern Yemen.
The operation was conducted in the context of partnership and international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, according to the text released by the official news agency Saba.
Chehri terrorist was buried by the Al-Qaeda network in an undisclosed location in Yemen, said the committee in a statement.
On Wednesday, the U.S. central monitoring Islamist websites SITE reported the death of Said al-Chehri announced by a radical Islamist on his Twitter account.
In October, Said Ali al-Chehri was denied in an audio message his own death announced on September 10 by the Yemeni Ministry of Defense.
AQAP number two, who was constantly hunted by Yemeni forces, was the military commander of the terrorist elements in deadly clashes with the army in the province of Abyan (south), the statement said.
Most localities in the province, including the capital Zinjibar, were monitored for a year by Islamist insurgents, before being expelled in June by the Yemeni army.
Yemeni Higher Committee for Security, Said al-Chehri was considered one of the leaders (Al-Qaeda) who played a leading role in planning terrorist acts at local, regional and international levels.
Yemeni authorities in charge of a difficult political transition initiated after the departure in February 2012 under pressure from the street challenged President Ali Abdullah Saleh is determined to hunt down the terrorists (...) until their eradication underlines the committee.
Said Ali al-Chehri, a former Guantanamo detainee returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, had followed a rehabilitation program implemented by Riyadh for his return from the U.S. prison but escaped to join the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
AQAP was born in January 2009 through the merger of the Saudi and Yemeni branches of al-Qaeda after the blows brought the network in Saudi Arabia.
The organization is led by Nasser al-Yemeni Wahichi who said in July 2011 its allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, came to the head of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden.
Attacks on members of Al-Qaeda, often attributed to U.S. drones, have increased recently, causing dozens of deaths.
Drone attacks against AQAP militants have almost tripled between 2011 and 2012, with 53 strikes against 18, according to the think tank New America Foundation, based in Washington.
The head of the Yemeni National Security, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi, said Jan. 8 that U.S. drone strikes would continue as part of counterterrorism cooperation between Washington and Sanaa.
The extremist network had benefited from the weakening of the central government in 2011, in favor of the popular uprising against former President Saleh to strengthen its grip on the east and south of Yemen, where he gathered his supporters .
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