Yemeni al-Qaeda leader 'killed in US air strike'

The head of al-Qaeda in Yemen, Sheikh Abu Basir Nasser al-Wahayshi, was killed in a US air strike along with two other fighters in Yemen, an al-Qaeda spokesperson said in an online address.

In the video posted online, Khaled Omar Baterfi, said the group has assigned its former military chief, Qassim al-Raymi, as its new leader.

"He was very well known in Afghanistan and was very close to Osama bin Laden, known as his secret keeper," Baterfi said in the video.

Baterfi added that Wahayshi was formerly imprisoned and had previously survived an assassination attempt.

Wahayshi was a Yemeni citizen from the province of Abeen, southeast of capital Sanaa was headed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since 2009.

He was believed to be at least 37 years old.

In 2010, the Security Council named him as one of the most dangerous members of the armed group.

Wahayshi started training in 1990 in Afghanistan, which is where he became close to Osama Bin Laden. He became his close aide and managed his finances and personal issues.

Wahayshi was among the aides with Bin Laden when he fled to Tora Bora close to the Pakistani borders during the US invasion of Afghanistan.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US he was arrested and held for three years in Iran.

- Al Jazeera