Drone strike in Yemen kills al-Qaida leader and six others

An airstrike killed al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader in Yemen along with six others traveling with him in one car on Monday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said, a major breakthrough for U.S.-backed efforts to cripple the group in the impoverished Arab nation.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was killed by a missile after leaving a house in the southern province of Hadramawt, according to Yemeni military officials.

Saeed al-Shihri

The Yemeni said the missile was fired by a U.S.-operated, unmanned drone aircraft.

Two senior U.S. officials confirmed al-Shihri’s death but could not confirm any U.S. involvement in the airstrike.

The U.S. doesn’t usually comment on such attacks although it has used drones in the past to go after al-Qaida members in Yemen, which is considered a crucial battleground with the terror network.

Yemeni military officials said that a local forensics team had identified al-Shihri’s body with the help of U.S. forensics experts on the ground.

The U.S. and Yemeni military officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to the media.