A former detainee who spent seven years at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was killed in a U.S. airstrike carried out in Yemen last week, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The March 2 airstrike killed at least two members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, including Yasir al-Silmi, who was captured shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and was among the first detainees released by President Obama in 2009.
Also killed in the strike was Usayd al-Adani, identified by the Pentagon as a longtime AQAP explosives expert and facilitator who served as the organization’s emir in that section of Yemen.
The next day in a second series of strikes, the Pentagon says it killed another AQAP fighter and communications expert Harithah al-Waqari.
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The Pentagon says the U.S. conducted one additional airstrike in Yemen early Monday morning targeting seven militants, for a total of 40 strikes over five days.
“We will continue to target AQAP militants and facilities in order to disrupt the terrorist organization’s plots and protect American lives,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
