Al Qaida chief dies of drone wounds

Al Qaida’s number two in Yemen has died of wounds he suffered in a drone attack in southern Yemen last year, the country’s official news agency said today.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was injured in a missile attack in the southern city of Saada on November 28, according to the Saba news agency.

The agency said he had been in a coma since then. It was not clear when he actually died.

A security official said the missile has been fired by a US -operated, unmanned drone aircraft.

Washington considers al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula the most dangerous of the group’s offshoots.