Raid kills al-Qaeda official in southern Yemen

Oct 15, 2011, 6:39 GMT

Sana'a - A Yemeni Air Force raid on al-Qaeda bases in southern Yemen has killed the head of the media department of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the defence ministry said Saturday.

Ibrahim al-Banna, an Egyptian national, and six others were killed when Yemeni war planes raided militant bases in Shabwa province late Friday.

The ministry said al-Banna was 'in charge of the media arm' of AQAP and was one of the group's 'most dangerous operatives.'

Abdel-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki is believed to be among those killed, according a political expert in the southern city of Aden. He is the son of the radical Islamist US-born cleric, seen as a spiritual leader of AQAP, who was killed in September by a US drone.

'The government knows Yemen well, they know where al-Qaeda members are, but it did not use the information until now to gain support from the West and shift the world's eyes from the political stalemate in the country,' Aden-based political analyst Anis Mansour told dpa by phone.

Yemeni opposition see the recent crackdown on al-Qaeda in Yemen as part of a scheme by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in order to gain international support against protesters seeking his ouster.

Only two hours after the raid, a gas pipeline in the province was blown up. The blast took place around 10 kilometres from the scene of the air raid, and is believed to be a retaliation by al-Qaeda-linked gunmen.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was formed in January 2009 when the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian offshoots of the network merged.