A senior member of the jihadist group Al-Qaeda was killed on Sunday by a “likely American” airstrike in northern Yemen, several Yemeni officials told AFP.
Saudi Hamad bin Hammoud al-Tamimi was killed in an airstrike on a house he had recently rented in Marib province, a Yemeni security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
This strike was “likely American”, he claimed.
Hamad bin Hammoud al-Tamimi was one of the main leaders of Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula, the jihadist organization Aqpa.
Under the name of Abdel Aziz al-Adnani, he was “the chairman of the advisory council of the organization (Aqpa, editor’s note)” and also exercised the function of “judge”, according to a local representative in Marib, also on condition of anonymity. .
His Yemeni bodyguard was also killed in the strike, he said.
The United States considers the Aqpa organization to be the most dangerous branch of the jihadist network and has been carrying out drone attacks against this group based in Yemen for several years, without ever confirming them.
At the end of January, Yemeni officials announced the death of three other Aqpa members in a drone strike in the province of Marib, under the control of the Yemeni government.
This strike was then described as “presumed American” by a government official in the region. Washington did not immediately comment.
The jihadist group, like its rival the Islamic State (IS) group, has strengthened its presence in Yemen by taking advantage of the chaos caused by the war between the government, supported since 2015 by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. , to Houthi rebels close to Iran.
Aqpa has carried out attacks in Yemen against both Houthis and government forces. The organization has also claimed responsibility for attacks in the United States and Europe.
The war in Yemen has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 2015 and plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the world’s worst humanitarian tragedies.