US authorities believe that Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Yemeni bomb maker for al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia), is dead, US media reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous senior US official.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2018) US authorities believe that Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Yemeni bomb maker for al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia), is dead, US media reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous senior US official.
According to CNN, the official voiced "confidence that he [al-Asiri] was killed."
Al-Asiri, known for his ability to create miniaturized bombs that airport security screenings fail to detect due to the little or no metal in them, was allegedly involved in the failed attack on a plane traveling to the US city of Detroit in 2009 and the failed assassination attempt on Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, which happened that same year.
CNN reported that counterterrorism analysts were skeptical about al-Asiri's death since al-Qaeda had not released a statement on the matter.
Last week, CNN reported, citing a report by the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, that al-Asiri had possibly been killed in Yemen in the second half of 2017.
The broadcaster went on to recall that the US military had carried out 165 airstrikes on al-Qaeda positions in Yemen since 2017. The terrorist group has long been a threat to Yemen's security amid the conflict between the local government and the Houthi movement. Al-Qaeda is allegedly tied with the Saudi-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at the authorities' request since 2015.
