WASHINGTON 

Al-Qaeda’s number two and the chief of its Yemen-based affiliate has been killed in Yemen, the U.S. confirmed Tuesday.

The National Security Council verified in a statement, the death of Nasser al-Wuhayshi, saying that it “strikes a major blow to AQAP [Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula], al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate, and to al-Qaeda more broadly.”

The council did not confirm how al-Wuhayshi was killed.

In a video statement released earlier Tuesday by the media wing of AQAP, the group said al Wuhayshi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Yemen, and his deputy, Qassim al-Rimi, had been named his successor.

Al-Wuhayshi led AQAP since 2009, and was responsible for the group’s plots to attack the U.S., its interests in the region and U.S. allies, according to council spokesman Ned Price.

“Wuhayshi’s death removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating these groups,” Price said in a statement.

The U.S. had placed a $10 million bounty on the militant leader as part of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program.