A senior Al Qaeda figure was killed in an air strike in the Marib district of Yemen, a tribal official told The National.
Citing a security source, AFP said the air strike was suspected to have been carried out by an American aircraft.
The purported victim of the strike, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) leader Hamad bin Hamoud Al Tamimi is a Saudi citizen, AFP reported. The US considers him one of its most wanted global terrorists. He was reportedly killed in the strike along with a bodyguard, AFP and local outlets reported.
But US Central Command (Centcom) told US think tank New America that it did not conduct the strike in question.
"Such a statement would not rule out a covert CIA strike, and the February strike is not the only one this year to resurface questions about whether the US is conducting strikes even as the US government has not acknowledged conducting a strike in Yemen since 2020," New America reported.
Tamimi, also known as Abdel Aziz Al Adnani, headed Aqap's leadership council and acted as the militant group's judge, sources said.
Extremist group expert Elisabeth Kendall said Al Tamimi had written at least 11 books justifying militancy and encouraged revenge on western nations for purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
The "president of the consultative council and judge, known as Abdel Aziz Al Adnani, was killed with a Yemeni bodyguard", a Marib official told AFP.
Aqap and rival militants loyal to ISIS have thrived in the chaos thrown up by the civil war in Yemen, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Iran-allied Houthi rebels.
Aqap has carried out operations against the Houthis and government forces as well as sporadic attacks abroad.
Its leaders have been targeted in a US drone war for more than two decades, although the number of strikes has dropped off in recent years.
The attack comes a month after three alleged Aqap militants were killed in a suspected US drone strike on a car in Marib province.
Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to back the government after the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa.
The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people and triggered what the United Nations terms the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced.
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
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- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
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How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
* Associated Press
