(MENAFN- Arab News) DUBAI: Al-Qaeda has confirmed that its second-in-command the chief of its powerful Yemeni branch was killed in a US drone strike in the heaviest blow to the jihadist network since the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Already struggling with the rise of rival jihadists from the Islamic State group Al-Qaeda has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months with several commanders reported killed.
In a video statement Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) confirmed that Nasir Al-Wuhayshi was dead.
Wuhayshi 'was killed in a US drone attack that targeted him along with two other mujahedeen' who were also killed said the statement read by prominent Al-Qaeda militant Khaled Omar Batarfi and dated June 15.
AQAP which was behind several plots against Western targets including the deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris earlier this year said it had named its military chief Qassem Al-Rimi as its new leader.
US officials were earlier reported to have been reviewing intelligence to confirm that Wuhayshi was killed in a CIA drone strike on June 9.
A local Yemeni official had told AFP that Wuhayshi was believed to have been killed in the raid in Al-Qaeda-held Mukalla in southeastern Yemen.
Another Yemeni official told AFP last week that a drone had fired four missiles at three Al-Qaeda militants including an unnamed 'leading figure' near Mukalla port killing them on the spot.