The Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said one of its leaders who was responsible for collecting money to fund the group's military operations has been killed by Yemeni security forces, Xinhua has reported, quoting AQAP's media outlet.
The killed militant was identified by Al-Malahim Media Foundation, the media arm of the Yemen-based AQAP, as Ibrahim Saleh Mujahid al-Khalifa (alias Abi Jandal al-Qisaimy), Xinhua said.
"Al-Qisaimy was responsible for collecting and raising money from inside Saudi Arabia and transferring them into al-Qaida wing in Yemen," al-Malahim was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the Internet.
The statement said the killed Saudi national "was also the coordinator behind smuggling groups of wanted Saudi militants to Yemen through the Saudi-Yemeni joint border."
The AQAP has claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. plane over Detroit, which triggered international concerns over air transportation security and forced Yemeni security forces to intensify their military and security operations against the terrorist group.
Xinhua quoted the AQAP's statement as saying the militant was killed in clashes with the Yemeni security forces when he led his Saudi-Yemeni group of al-Qaida fighters to attack a government security checkpoint in a southern Yemeni province.
The date of the militant's killing was not reported. The statement said, however, al-Qisaimy had survived the Yemeni anti-terror air raids on southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa in December last year and January this year, the Chinese news agency reported.
Yemen said in January some 60 militants were killed and dozens arrested in a series of air strikes carried out by the country's security forces in Shabwa and Abyan, as well as in the Arhab district, to the north-east of the capital Sanaa.
MOSCOW, March 14
