AQAP’s Military Commander Killed in Yemen

The Director of the intelligence news outlet “Site", which monitors the online activities of the armed groups, reported that the AQAP announced the death of one of its military commanders in a US airstrike in Yemen.

Rita Katz added that the AQAP did not specify the date/location related to the death of   former Bin Laden associate Salih bin Salim bin Ubayd ’Abolan (AKA Abu 'Umayr al-Hadrami).

She pointed to reports on twitter about a US airstrike that killed 3 of Yemeni militants on Nov 14th.

BREAKING: AQAP announces death of military commander/former Bin Laden associate Salih bin Salim bin Ubayd ’Abolan (AKA Abu 'Umayr al-Hadhrami) in US airstrike in Yemen. Strange that group did not specify date/location. Reports show US airstrike killed 3 AQAP militants on Nov. 14. https://t.co/NkAv5Fzh6f pic.twitter.com/8FrdCm24ue

— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) January 20, 2022

According to the AQAP's statement, published by Katz, Abu 'Umayr al-Hadrami previously participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s. Later, he combined this with the jihad against Communists in South Yemen.  He was imprisoned at that time before being released.

The statement said that" the AQAP's military official was imprisoned in Al-Ha’ir Prison” in the KSA which later extradited him to Yemen, before being released from there.

The Yemeni authorities in Sanaa had released tens of the AQAP in late 1990s after their involvement in the war against South Yemen while a number of prominent AQAP members escaped twice from the Political Security Prison in Sana.

Southern officials accuse Yemeni authorities of using the extremist organizations against Southerners.

On Thursday evening, the STC's President, Aidarous Al-Zubaidi claimed that "the Yemeni Vice President was the first of those who designed the AQAP's presence in South Yemen according to an interview with Saudi Channel "Al-Hadath" which raised a lot of controversy.