Senior Al-Qaeda leader killed in U.S. airstrike in Yemen

Harith alNazari, a prominent leader of Al Qaeda’s affiliated group in Yemen, has been killed in an airstrike by a U.S. drone, his fellow members of AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, announced on Thursday.

They said that AlNazari and three other AQAP militants died Saturday when the airstrike targeted the vehicle in which they were heading to the alSaid region in southeastern Shabwa province, according to the AQAP official Twitter account.

The organization, which has claimed responsibility for last month’s attack on the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, described the death of alNazari and the other three members as a new sacrifice for the sons of Islam.

AlNazari had served as spokesman for the AQAP, along with his main role as Mufti, and praised the Charlie Hebdo attack in which 12 people were killed in Paris in a recording that was released on January 9.

It was the second drone raid by the United States in Yemen since the resignation of President Abdo Rabu Mansur, Washington’s close ally, and his cabinet, after Houthi Shiite militias seized the presidential palace and raided his residence on January 21.