SANAA - Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Wednesday confirmed the death of its No 2 leader Said al- Shehri in a US drone strike, the AQAP said in a statement.

Senior AQAP figure, Ibrahim al-Rubaish said in a video statement posted online that Sheikh Said al-Shehri had been killed in a US drone attack, without specifying when the strike took place.

"I present my condolences to the Mujahideen on the martyrdom of Sheikh Said al-Shehri," al-Rubaish said in the 11-minute video.

Al-Shehri, a Saudi national and AQAP's No 2 leader, was the main target of several military raids during the past years.

He served a prison term in the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo before he was deported to Saudi Arabia, where he fled to Yemen along with other hundreds of Saudi wanted militants to form the AQAP in January 2009.