Commander of Al-Qaida Killed in Yemen-U.S. Airstrike

From Jawa

CRI

The Yemen-based al-Qaida regional wing said Thursday one of its filed commanders, a former Guantanamo detainee, was killed in a Yemeni-U.S. air raid early this year. 

"Hani Abdu Mosleh Shalan, a filed commander in the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was killed in a Yemeni-U.S. join air strike on a camp in southern Yemen early this year," said the group's statement posted on jihadist forums.

It said Shalan was caught by the U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. He was sent to Guantanamo military jail for his participation in anti-U.S. war in Afghanistan alongside with Sheikh Osama bin Laden after 9/11.

The statement said Shalan was freed from Guantanamo and sent to the Yemeni authorities where he was finally released.

Early 2009 he joined the AQAP to become a leader of armed affiliate in southern Yemen where he carried out with his group a number of attacks against Western and Yemeni interests, according to the statement.