Senior AQAP commander killed in U.S. drone strike in Yemen

ADEN – A senior commander of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, Nabil al-Dahab, was killed along with five other members of the group in a U.S. drone strike in the central province of al-Bayda early on Wednesday, a security official told Xinhua.

Al-Dahab was killed along with five others of the terrorist commanders, including Shawki Ali Ahmed al-Badani, when a U.S. drone fired missiles on a house in central al-Bayda province, the security source said.

“Al-Badani and al-Dahab, both of them known for the training and indoctrination of suicide bombers, was among the al-Qaida militants killed in the pre-dawn U.S. drone attack,” an intelligence officer, who requested to remain anonymous, confirmed to Xinhua by phone.

The U.S. Department of State has designated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader and operative Shawki Ali Ahmed al- Badani a “specially designated global terrorist.”

Al-Badani is on Yemen’s most wanted list and the Yemeni government has offered a 100,000 U.S. dollars reward for anyone who can offer information about him, describing him as one of “the most dangerous terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida.”

In January 2010, the U.S. State Department designated AQAP as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as an SDGT entity.

Yemeni military officials have blamed militants of the Yemen- based al-Qaida offshoot for a series of assassinations and armed attacks, mostly in the country’s southern regions.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which emerged in January 2009 and also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, is considered one of the greatest threats to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.