The Al- Qaeda number 2 leader killed in a U.S air strike.

The Al- Qaeda number 2 leader Nasir al-Wahishi has been killed in a U.S air strike, Nasir al-Wahishi was the latest in a series of senior figures from al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni branch eliminated by U.S. drone attacks over the past five months, including its top ideologue and a senior military commander. The U.S. has intensified its campaign, trying to push back the group as it has captured new territory in Yemen by taking advantage of the southern Arabian nation's chronic chaos. In confirming the killing of al-Wahishi in a June 9 drone attack, "removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating these groups,said the United States. The U.S. activity against al-Qaida has not been limited to Yemen. Over the weekend, a U.S. air strike in Libya targeted an al-Qaida- linked militant commander, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who led a 2013 attack on an Algerian gas complex that killed 35 hostages, including several Americans. U.S. officials are still trying to confirm whether he was killed in the raid or not. In addition to leading AQAP — considered tobe the terror organization's most important affiliate — Wuhayshi was said to be"operations manager" of al Qaeda Central, reporting directly to Ayman al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri assumed command of the terror group after bin Laden's 2011 death and retains leadership of al Qaeda in Pakistan, but his mobility is limited and he is unable to plan much of anything, said a U.S. counter terrorism official. On the other hand,said the official, Wuhayshi, "by virtue of where he is," can plan external operations against the West. Wuhayshi, a 38-year-old Yemeni, served as a secretary to bin Laden at the time of the September 11 attacks and then rose in the al Qaeda hierarchy. After 9/11, he fled Afghanistan as U.S. forces moved in, and was arrested after crossing the border into Iran. Iranian authorities turned him over to authorities in his native Yemen, where he escaped from prison and reconnected with al Qaeda. With the death of a succession of No. 2 candidates in 2011 and 2012, al-Wuhayshi rose to the second most important position in the terror group last year. The U.S. has posted a $5  million reward for his capture.

The air strike that is believed to have killed al-Wuhayshi was one of two this weekend against leaders of the terror group's main affiliates.