AQAP leader's brother reported killed in US drone strike

Abdul Rahman al Wuhayshi, the brother of Nasir al Wuhayshi, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, may have been killed in a US airstrike in southern Yemen. The strike is the first reported to have been carried out by the US since Anwar al Awlaki's son was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in October.

By Bill Roggio / LWJ / December 23, 2011
Abdul Rahman al Wuhayshi, the brother of Nasir al Wuhayshi, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, may have been killed in a US airstrike in southern Yemen. The strike is the first reported to have been carried out by the US since Anwar al Awlaki's son was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in October.
Abdul Rahman is said to have been killed yesterday by unmanned US Predator or Reaper drones in a strike in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, which is currently under the control of AQAP, according to The Associated Press. Today, Yemeni officials and local tribesmen in Zinjibar told Reuters that Abdul Rahman was killed in a US drone strike.
The death of Abdul Rahman, whose role in AQAP is unknown, has not been confirmed. AQAP has not announced his death. Yemeni officials have declared his brother Nasir dead several times in the past, but the reports have been false.
Nasir al Wuhayshi was rumored to have been killed during fighting in late August with the 201st Brigade of the Yemeni Army in the Dofas area just outside of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan [see LWJ report, AQAP chief Nasir al Wuhayshi reported killed in southern Yemen]. In late October, AQAP issued an official denial of his death, and included a previously unseen photo of him [see LWJ report, AQAP denies emir Nasir al Wuhayshi killed in US airstrike].
AQAP describes Dofas as a major battlefront in its war against the Yemeni state. Zinjibar and the southern Yemeni cities of Sharqa and Azzan, as well as vast regions in the south, are under the control of AQAP.
Government forces and AQAP fighters, under the aegis of Ansar al Shariah, have been battling for months on the outskirts of Zinjibar. AQAP forces have held off three Yemeni Army brigades to maintain control of Zinjibar.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/12/aqap_leaders_brother.php#ixzz1hPGPXUNa

Posted in: Yemen