Al-Qaeda has released a statement that the group’s #2 leader in Yemen has been killed in a U.S. drone strike.

Saeed al-Shihri had survived multiple drone strikes including one last year that the Yemeni government said had killed him. The new report is the first time at Al-Qaeda has confirmed the death of al-Shihri.

The video from the terrorist organization has the group’s main theologian reading a eulogy of al-Shihri. The video says that al-Shihri was killed while talking on his cell phone north of the capital of Sanaa.

In his last video, al-Shihri issued a vehement condemnation of Saudi Arabia for allowing the U.S. to launch drone strikes against al-Qaeda from their land.

The remoteness of some of Yemen’s regions has made it a favorable haven for al-Qaeda terrorists.