Senior Al Qaeda leader reported dead...again

One of Al Qaeda’s top operatives in Yemen was killed in December, according media reports.

Saeed Al Shehri, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's second-in-command, was reported killed in a Central Intelligence Agency drone strike in Yemen, according to the SITE Intelligence group and Islamist websites.

The Saudi and Yemeni authorities have yet to confirm that Shehri was killed in the attack. In October, Shehri denied reports made in September that he had been killed.

Shehri was released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba in 2007 and flown to Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. CIA has conducted a campaign of assassination in Yemen using remote-controlled drones since 2002. In the past year, deaths from drone strikes have risen sharply.