Drone Strike In Yemen Kills Al Qaeda Leader Wanted In Cole Bombing Case

Fahd al-Quso -- who was on the FBI's most wanted list in connection with the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer -- was killed by a missile, along with another al Qaeda operative, in Rafd, a mountain valley in Shabwa province. The U.S. has yet to confirm the strike.

Fahd al-Quso, who was wanted by the United States for the attack against the USS Cole, was killed tonight (Sunday) in an American raid on the Rafadh region in Shabwa province, tribal chief Abdel Magid bin Farid al-Awlaki told Agence France Presse.

Al-Quso had a $5 million reward placed on his head. He had been indicted for his role in the bombing of the USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 American sailors and injured 39 others.

The 37-year-old was also linked to the failed suicide attack on an airliner over Detriot in 2009, allegedly meeting with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Yemen before the infamous underwear bomber failed to blow up the plane.

The air strike is just the latest in a string of high-profile strikes in Yemen, as the U.S. government has worked to dampen al Qaeda's growing influence in the country's southern reaches during a time of political upheaval. U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in the same location by a similar U.S. air strike last year.

Al-Quso had a decade-long history with al Qaeda, dating back to an early meeting with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, where the late al Qaeda leader told al-Quso to eliminate the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula. He subsequently rose through the ranks to become the leader of group's external operations in the Arabian Peninsula.