Shabwa (South24)

The Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) announced on Tuesday, January 21, the killing of two of its prominent leaders in a US drone strike in Shabwa Governorate, South Yemen.

In a statement released through its media outlets, the AQAP said that its senior members Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Mughy, nicknamed Abu Ali Al-Disi, and Ammar bin Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Awlaki, nicknamed Abu Saleh Al-Diouli, were killed in the US airstrike.

The organization added that "Abu Ali Al-Disi" was one of its most prominent military commanders, and had participated in multiple combat operations in Yemen and abroad.

According to the statement, Al-Disi began his activities in Iraq during the US invasion, before being arrested by the Syrian regime and deported to Yemen.

He spent time in prison in the city of Mukalla in Hadramout, before escaping from the central prison in the famous prison breakout incident of December 2011 along with more than 60 AQAP members during the era of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

According to a source familiar with AQAP affairs at the South24 Center, Al-Disi was the legal and preaching official for AQAP. The organization statement described him as a "sheikh" and referred to his missionary activity in Yemen.

The AQAP statement described the US air raid as an extension of the "American Crusader campaign”. It vowed to "take revenge" and continue operations against "the enemies of Islam”, as it put it.

There has been no official comment from the US on the incident so far.

A security source told the South24 Center that on January 15, an American drone bombed a four-wheel drive vehicle carrying the two AQAP leaders in the Khor area of the Lower Markha district in Shabwa Governorate.

According to the security source, the targeting took place in a rugged mountainous area adjacent to the Houthi-controlled Al-Bayda Governorate. The source did not provide further details about who else were on board the vehicle or their fate.