Top Al Qaeda commander killed for the THIRD time: U.S air strike 'finally' gets terror boss in Yemen
- Senior Al Qaeda leader reported dead after air strike
- It is the third time Said al-Shihri has been reported killed
- He has been linked with several attacks, kidnaps and bombings
- Veteran fighter was released from Guantanamo in 2007
A senior jihadist believed to be behind a deadly bombing at the U.S. embassy in Yemen has been reported killed, the third time his death has been announced.
Said al-Shihri, the second in command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was reportedly killed in an airstrike in Yemen in December, according to a news report by Arabic television network Al Arabiya.
According to the report, the Saudi-born militant died after sustaining severe injuries from a joint U.S.-Yemeni airstrike that targeted his convoy.
Terror leader: Said al-Shihri, sedonc-in-command of the Yemeni based branch of Al Qaeda has been reported killed - for the fourth time
The al Arabiya account, based on information from 'family sources', said al-Shihri went into a coma and allegedly died soon after.
It is the third time he has been reported killed. In 2009 it was announced that he was killed by an American cruise missile and in September 2012, Yemeni news sites reported he was eliminated by a U.S. drone strike.
Al-Shihri was detained in Guantanamo Bay for six years after being captured in fighting in Afghanistan.
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He caused controversy in the U.S. after he was released back to his Saudi Arabia in 2007 and underwent a Saudi rehabilitation programme for Islamic militants, almost immediately returning to terrorist activity on his release.
The al Arabiya report said he was involved in the failed operation that targeted assassination of the Saudi interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in 2009.
Al-Shihri was reported to have been killed by an unmanned predator aerial vehicle in September, but released a statement denying it soon after
Al-Shihri is also reported to have been involved in the kidnapping of foreigners in Yemen and was allegedly the mastermind behind the 2008 embassy bombing.
AQAP, a highly active branch of Al Qaeda, was behind a suicide bombing aimed at the British ambassador in Yemen in April 2010, and a rocket fired at a British embassy vehicle in October 2010.
The Yemeni army, supported by the U.S., has been fighting Islamist militants in the south of the country for months.
The militants took large parts of the south of Yemen after president Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted in February 2012.
Battle: Yemeni forces have been clashing with Islamic militants who have seized large parts of the country's south
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