CAIRO (AP) – Al-Qaida on Tuesday confirmed that Nasir al-Wahishi, its No. 2 figure and leader of its powerful Yemeni affiliate, was killed in a U.S. strike, making it the harshest blow to the global militant network since the killing of Osama bin Laden.
In a video statement released by the media wing of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni affiliate is known, a senior operative read a statement announcing the death of al-Wahishi, who once served as bin Laden’s personal secretary, and said his deputy, Qassim al-Raimi, has been tapped to replace him.
“Our Muslim nation, a hero of your heroes and a master of your masters left to God, steadfast,” senior operative Khaled Batrafi said in the video, vowing that the group’s war on America would continue.
“In the name of God, the blood of these pioneers make us more determined to sacrifice,” he said. “Let the enemies know that the battle is not with an individual… the battle led by crusaders and their agents is colliding with a billion-member nation.”
Yemeni security officials had earlier said a U.S. drone strike killed three suspected militants in the al-Qaida-held southern port city of Mukalla last week. U.S. officials had said they were trying to verify whether al-Wahishi had been killed.