- Ibrahim al-Asiri thought to be dead – most senior member since Bin Laden
- Al-Asiri believed to be behind explosive devices including pant bombs
- Comes after ‘U.S.’ backed forces engaged vehicle in gun battle
- Those inside managed to shoot back, but all inside were reportedly killed
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, Al Qaeda’s chief bombmaker, is believed to have been killed in an ambush by U.S- backed special forces in Yemen
Al Qaeda’s chief bombmaker is believed to have been killed in an ambush by U.S- backed special forces in Yemen.
A 4×4 vehicle, believed to be carrying Ibrahim al-Asiri, 32, mastermind of the ‘underwear bomb plot’, was engaged in a gun battle with special forces, dropped in by helicopter.
Witnesses have described seeing soldiers take up position in the road, waiting for the vehicle to pass before opening fire.
Those inside managed to shoot back, but all inside were reportedly killed as their car was pelted with bullets, The Times reports.
Troops took sniffer dogs with them as they identified those inside and later confirmed one was a ‘high value militant’. If al -Asiri is confirmed as among the dead, he would be the most senior al Qaeda member to be killed since Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
Al-Asiri is believed to be behind a range of explosive devices including pant bombs and liquid explosive implants which contain no metal parts making them virtually undetectable.
He was said to be the mastermind of the Christmas Day bomb plot, when a Nigerian man attempted unsuccessfully to detonate a device aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. He has also been linked to the cargo planes bomb plot in which explosive ink cartridges were intercepted at airports in the East Midlands in the UK and Dubai en route from Yemen to the United States.
On Saturday and Sunday, several air strikes – thought to be carried out chiefly by U.S. drones – were launched on central and southern provinces of Yemen.
It is thought that the operation was launched from a undisclosed desert air base in eastern Saudi Arabia, close to the Yemeni border.
People gather near a destroyed car that was carrying militants in the Sawmaa area of al-Bayda province, Yemen, Saturday
At least 14 people, including 12 al-Qaeda suspects, were killed on Saturday in a drone raid in the central Yemeni province of Bayda, Yemeni media reports said
It said three of those killed were leading members of al Qaeda. Yemen said 10 al Qaeda militants were killed in Saturday’s attack.
A senior security source said investigations were being carried out into the identities of those killed, but confirmed that ‘leaders in the organisation’ had died.
It is believed that those killed also include Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi.
Witness Obeid Awad said: ‘Minutes after the car (with militants) was hit, we saw helicopters hovering overhead and military cars spreading. Soldiers were seen disembarking from one of the helicopters. After they left, we found the struck car but we could not find any body parts.’
Local and tribal sources over the weekend said unmanned drones had been circling for days prior to the attacks.
Yemen is among a handful of countries where Washington acknowledges using drones, though it does not comment publicly on the practice.
Faris al-Saqqaf, an advisor to the Yemeni president, said that Yemeni fighter MiG-29s joined in the operation in Shabwa.
AL-QAEDA’S BOMB-MAKER IN CHIEF: THE EXPLOSIVES MASTERMIND WHO EVEN RECRUITED HIS OWN BROTHER FOR A SUICIDE ATTACK
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who unsuccessfully carried out the 2009 Underpants Bomb Plot
Known as Al-Qaeda’s bomb-maker in chief, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri is believed to be behind a range of explosive devices including pant bombs and liquid explosive implants which contain no metal parts making them virtually undetectable.
Al-Asiri, 32, who is linked to the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group, was reported to have recruited his own brother Abdullah al-Asiri as a suicide bomber in a failed 2009 attempt to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of the Interior.
An early version of his pant bomb was used in the the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, when Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted unsuccessfully to detonate the device aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
An updated version, which incorporated fail-safe triggers and used a new kind of explosive that was even harder to detect was supplied for a terrorist attack in May last year to mark the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death.
That plot was foiled when the suicide bomber turned out to be a double agent and handed the device to the FBI.
He is also believed to have been behind a pair of explosives-laden printers that were mailed from Yemen to the U.S. in 2010 and were intercepted at East Midlands airport and Dubai.
In September last year he was reported as having been possibly killed in a drone strike together with other AQAP suspects but a Yemeni government official later denied the claim.
He is currently considered to be one of America’s most wanted men. ‘He’s the main guy,’ said one counterterrorism official. ‘He’s the top of any list.’
Al-Asiri has been described as a critical component of al Qaeda’s activities in Yemen and his death would be a significant blow to the organization.
By AMANDA WILLIAMS see more photos at Daily Mail
CLARK KENT @ AMERICAS FREEDOM FIGHTERS
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TOO!
