Yemeni authorities declare three al-Qua’ida leaders dead

Yemeni soldiers from the 25th brigade in the province of Abyan Sanaa – Khaled al-Haroji Yemeni authorities declared the deaths of the three most important al-Qua’ida leaders in a battle between their forces and the 25th Liwa battalion in the province of Abyan (Southern Yemen). A military source in the Southern military region told the news agency today that al-Qua’ida commander, Ali Mubarek Firas al-Jahami, and Shaif al-Jarbou’ al-Hijazi and others from the organization were killed in clashes with the heroes of the 25th Liwa armoured brigade around the city of Zinjibar, the capital of the province of Abyan.
The source confirmed that al-Jahami who was fighting in the province of Abyan “is considered responsible for organizing al-Qua’ida in the district of Sarwah in the province of Marib, and he lead an armed group of men last May, al-Hijazi being one of them. They ambushed a number of the Liwa 312th Liwa brigade which lead to the martyrdom of five of them, and others being left injured.” He added that “al-Jahami is considered one of the most dangerous elements of al-Qua’ida, and that he previously trained a number of strategists how to use weapons, and how to carry out terrorist operations. He is wanted for a number of security issues. Jahami has also previously travelled to Afghanistan in 2000, where he trained in the al-Farouq training camps, the military camp which is a supporter of the deceased leader of al-Qua’ida, Osama Bin Laden. He then returned to Yemen four months prior to the events of September the 11th.”
The Yemeni Ministry of Defence announced the death of Waleed Mushafi al-Aseri, the military commander of al-Qua’ida in the province of Abyan on Wednesday evening, in addition to six other al-Qua’ida members, and one soldier, and the injury of three others in the clashes taking place in Abyan. The Ministry said on its website that: “The heroes of the armed forces were able to kill the military commander of al-Qua’ida in the province of Abyan, the terrorist Waleed Mushafi al-Aseri, who was known as Abu Khaled, in an operation that was carried out by the heroes of the armed forces the day before yesterday, against the terrorist elements in the city of Zinjibar.”
The Ministry pointed out that al-Aseri, who is a Saudi national, and is included on the security force’s list of the most wanted persons in Yemen and Saudi, has killed around forty individuals from al-Qua’ida near the 25th Liwa armoured brigade military camp east of Zinjibar. Previously, the 25th Liwa brigade forces announced that two al-Qua’ida followers were arrested, stating that they were two of the most dangerous snipers from among the al-Qua’ida members of their rank, and that they had previously caused the death an injury of a number of soldiers and civilians in the province of Abyan. The Ministry indicated that there are a number of foreigners of different nationalities fighting in the ranks of the armed groups that follow al-Qua’ida. They also found the identity card of one the soldiers after his death, and he is a Somali national.”
In this context, local sources in the Abyan province said that ten soldiers were killed on Wednesday when they were intercepted by unknown armed men as they were getting into a taxi in the area of Jabal Tharra in the district of Lauder, who shot them dead. The sources explained that the soldiers who belonged to the 111th Liwa brigade stationed in Lauder were dressed in civilian clothing, and were on their way to spend their way to spend their holidays in their own provinces. The armed men intercepted the car that they were travelling in and asked to see their identity cards. The same sources confirmed that the gunmen discovered from the identity cards that the men were soldiers, and for this reason they assassinated them. The sources suggested that the armed men belonged to al-Qua’ida, and call themselves “Ansar al-Sharia”.