Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has confirmed that its deputy leader in Yemen was killed in a drone strike.

Senior AQAP official Ibrahim al-Rubaish announced in a video posted on July 17 that Said al-Shehri, also known as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, was killed, but he did not say when.

Yemeni government officials had announced several times that the Saudi-born militant had been killed, most recently in late January.

The U.S. military released al-Shehri from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2007 and he reportedly went through a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.

He disappeared after completing the program, later surfacing as an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen.

A Washington-based think tank, New America Foundation, reports the United States carried about 53 drone strikes in Yemen in 2012.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters