<p>The death of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri would make the Friday drone strikes on a convoy in the central deserts of Yemen one of the most effective single blows in the US campaign to take out al-Qaeda's top figures.<br /><br />The strike also killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who had been key to recruiting for the militant group and a Pakistani-American, Samir Khan, who was a top English-language propagandist.<br /><br />But Christopher Boucek, a scholar who studies Yemen and al-Qaeda, said al-Asiri's death would "overshadow" that of the two Americans due to his operational importance to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group that is considered the most active branch of the terror network.<br /><br />Late Friday, two US officials said intelligence indicated al-Asiri was among those killed in the strike.<br /><br />The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because al-Asiri's death has not officially been confirmed.<br /><br />The 29-year-old al-Asiri was one of the first Saudis to join the Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch and became its key bombmaker, designing the explosives in two attempted attacks against the United States.<br /><br />His fingerprint was found on the bomb hidden in the underwear of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, according to US counter terrorism officials.<br /><br />The attack failed because the would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab botched detonating the explosives, ending up only burning himself before being wrestled away by passengers.<br /><br />The explosives used in that bomb were chemically identical to those hidden inside two printers that were shipped from Yemen last year, bound for Chicago and Philadelphia in a plot claimed by al-Qaeda.<br /><br />The bombs were intercepted in England and Dubai.In perhaps his most ruthless operation, al-Asiri turned his younger brother, Abdullah, into a human bomb in a 2009 attempt to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the kingdom's top counter terrorism official and son of its interior minister.</p>
<p>The death of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri would make the Friday drone strikes on a convoy in the central deserts of Yemen one of the most effective single blows in the US campaign to take out al-Qaeda's top figures.<br /><br />The strike also killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who had been key to recruiting for the militant group and a Pakistani-American, Samir Khan, who was a top English-language propagandist.<br /><br />But Christopher Boucek, a scholar who studies Yemen and al-Qaeda, said al-Asiri's death would "overshadow" that of the two Americans due to his operational importance to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group that is considered the most active branch of the terror network.<br /><br />Late Friday, two US officials said intelligence indicated al-Asiri was among those killed in the strike.<br /><br />The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because al-Asiri's death has not officially been confirmed.<br /><br />The 29-year-old al-Asiri was one of the first Saudis to join the Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch and became its key bombmaker, designing the explosives in two attempted attacks against the United States.<br /><br />His fingerprint was found on the bomb hidden in the underwear of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, according to US counter terrorism officials.<br /><br />The attack failed because the would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab botched detonating the explosives, ending up only burning himself before being wrestled away by passengers.<br /><br />The explosives used in that bomb were chemically identical to those hidden inside two printers that were shipped from Yemen last year, bound for Chicago and Philadelphia in a plot claimed by al-Qaeda.<br /><br />The bombs were intercepted in England and Dubai.In perhaps his most ruthless operation, al-Asiri turned his younger brother, Abdullah, into a human bomb in a 2009 attempt to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the kingdom's top counter terrorism official and son of its interior minister.</p>