US airstrike kills suspected Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen

A senior Al-Qaeda leader was reportedly killed in a suspected US airstrike in central Yemen yesterday, according to a source close to his family.

Yasir Ali Al-Salmi, also known as Abi Al-Muhajir Al-Ibbi, was killed along two other suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Al-Baydaa province, a source told the Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The claim was not been confirmed by either the US or the Yemeni government.

Read: Yemen’s Al-Qaeda leader: US refused to trade ‘blind sheikh’ for hostage

The US, which regards Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen as a persistent threat to the region and its own interests, has used drones to hunt down the group’s leaders in Yemen, which fell into civil war in 2014.

Last week, the Pentagon said that US warplanes launched more than 30 airstrikes in Yemen in two days. Local sources have told MEMO that civilians have been left terrified as a result of the airstrikes and many have been displaced.

Al-Salmi was among six Yemenis released by the US from Guantanamo Bay in 2010.

His older brother, Salah Al-Salmi, committed suicide in 2006 after he was sent to the notorious detention camp, according to the US authorities.