DNA test: Remains from Yemen airstrike not al Qaeda bomb-maker's

By Paul Cruickshank, Mohammed Jamjoom and Nic Robertson, CN

updated 10:51 AM EDT, Mon April 28, 2014

Strikes targeted al Qaeda fighters in Yemen.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- The remains of a Saudi national killed in airstrikes in Yemen earlier this month are not those of a wanted al Qaeda bomb-maker, according to multiple sources in Saudi Arabia who were briefed on the matter.

DNA tests conducted by Saudi officials showed that the remains were not those of Ibrahim al-Asiri, they said.

Saudi officials had obtained a close match to al-Asiri's DNA via remains of his brother, who died in a failed suicide bomb attack. The brother had carried a bomb inside his body, which killed him upon detonation but failed to hit his intended target, Saudi Arabia's security chief.

The sources said that the results were also negative for a DNA match to Nasser al-Wuhayshi, believed to be head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Pennisula. Al-Wuhayshi has been referred to as the "crown prince" of the global terror organization al Qaeda.

Crackdown

The laboratory tests were conducted to determine whether a broad offensive against AQAP, which is considered al Qaeda's most dangerous wing, had eliminated the two men.

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DNA test: Remains from Yemen airstrike not al Qaeda bomb-maker's