Top al-Qaeda commander killed in Yemen

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 24, 2012- The Yemeni Embassy in Washington said on Tuesday that a top al-Qaeda commander was killed during an airstrike conducted by Yemeni air forces on a convey in Yemen's eastern province of Mareb.

The embassy reported that Mohammed Saeid Al-Umda, alias Ghareeb Al-Taizi, was killed on Sunday when an airstrike targeted a militant convoy on al-Sanda district near Obeida valley.

Al-Umda was ranked 4th on Yemen's most-wanted list. He provided logistical and financial support to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The militant escaped from prison in 2006, where he was serving a sentence for supporting an attack on a French oil tanker. In 2008 he was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison for targeting Yemen's energy infrastructure, the embassy said.

Umda was trained under Osama bin Laden's supervision in Afghanistan and was involved in the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen.

Lately, the U.S. drone has increased in Yemen, targeting al-Qaeda hideouts, killing and wounding scores of them.

According to an article the U.S carried out 21 airstrikes in Yemen since the beginning of May 2011. Eleven of those strikes have taken place so far in 2012.