Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish: Religious leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed in Yemen drone strike

Militant group said he was killed two days ago

Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish:

A Muslim cleric said to be the religious leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen and who carried a $5m bounty on his head, has been killed - allegedly by a US drone strike.

A statement issued by the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said that Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was killed in the strike two days ago.

It is unclear who launched the air strike. Yemen is one of several countries where the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has launched drone strikes against al-Qaeda militants and other extremists and AQAP said he had been killed by a “crusader airstrike”.

Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish had a m bounty on his head

The group said Rubaish, a Saudi-national believed to be aged in his 30s, was a religious scholar and combat commander.

There was no immediate comment from either Yemeni or US officials. There was similarly no public from the CIA.

Rubaish was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2006, after which he joined al-Qaeda in Yemen. He was considered the group's the main ideologue and theological adviser and his writings and sermons were prominent in its publications.

Last year, he welcomed the seizure of large parts of Iraq and Syria by al-Qaeda’s rival, the Islamic State group. "I ask God that efforts are united to target the enemies of the religion," he said in a video recording at the time.

The Associated Press said that if the US attack is confirmed, it would be the first use of unmanned aircraft since Yemen sank further into turmoil last month, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to launch airstrikes on March 26 in an attempt to halt Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who have taken over much of the country.

The Houthi advance has also forced Yemen's Western-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country as his government crumbled.

US officials have said the collapse of Mr Hadi's government could undermine Washington's counter-terrorism strategy against al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen. Washington considers the branch to be the most powerful in the terrorist network, the AP said.

In late March, about 100 US military advisers withdrew from the al-Annad air base where they had been leading the US counter-terrorism efforts in Yemen.