Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for killing the Houthi spiritual leader Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi who was reported dead a day after a car bomb targeted a Houthi convoy in Saada last month.
The group said in a statement posted on Al-Fajr Media Center the leader was assassinated in the car bomb attack against the convoy that was on its way to mark Day of Al-Ghadir.
The attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda member Abi Aisha Al-Sana’ani, the statement said.
“The Houthi Group tried to hide he was among the victims of the operation, saying he naturally died, but the fact is that the attack already killed him.”
Commenting on the information, the Houthi information bureau denied the leader died in the blast that reports said killed Houthi leaders.
Over the last two weeks, Islamic preachers are starting to believe that Al-Qaeda is really sponsored by international powers after reports confirmed that Badr Al-Din never left Sa’ada over the last two years.
Spokesman at the bureau Dhaif Allah Al-Shami said the leader died from asthma in Matara district on Thursday and the information was untrue.
Last month, two car bombs targeted Houthi convoys in Jawf and Saada killing about 27 and injuring almost a dozen others.
AQAP claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying they were carried out by newly-formed special units responsible for defending the Sunnis and eradicating the malice planted by Shiites in the north.