Former Guantanamo Detainee Killed in Yemen Drone Strike

While the United States has promised a more judicious (and less frequent) use of drone strikes overseas, the airborne attacks have not stopped completely, as another Al-Qaeda leader has been killed in Yemen.

While the United States has promised a more judicious (and less frequent) use of drone strikes overseas, the airborne attacks have not stopped completely, as another Al-Qaeda leader has been killed in Yemen. The group known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has confirmed that Saeed al-Shehri was killed in a U.S. drone strike, after numerous earlier reports of his death that turned out to be false.

No timetable was given for the drone attack, but the most recent report that he was killed (one of at least three such attempts to declare him dead) was in January of this year.

Shehri is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was captured in Afghanistan and released in 2007, when he was sent to Saudi Arabia to be "rehabilitated." However, he quickly returned to Yemen and began plotting operations there, including arranging the kidnapping of a Saudi official, who is still missing. Shehri is being identified as the proverbial "Number 2" man in the organization, perpetuating the long-running cliché (or joke) that the terrorist outfit seems to have a lot of people ranked number two, all of whom manage to turn up dead.