A senior al Qaeda official wanted by the United States and a local leader of the militant group’s affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, were killed in a drone strike in central Yemen overnight, tribal sources said on Wednesday.
Nabil al-Dahab, leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen’s al-Bayda province, was killed along with four other al Qaeda members, including Shawki al-Badani, the sources said. Badani is a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who is wanted by the United States.
The US State Department has designated Badani as a “global terrorist,” saying he was linked to at least two plots against the US embassy in Sanaa and a 2012 suicide bombing in the Yemeni capital that killed more than 100 soldiers.
A June 17, 2014, posting on the State Department website said the Yemeni government had offered a $100,000 reward for information about Badani. It also reported Yemeni authorities describing him as one of “the most dangerous terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda.”
