Major General Salem Ali Qatan (Arabic: سالم علي قطن; 1952 – 18 June 2012) was a Yemeni military officer and member of the Al-Awaliq tribe.
Ali Qatan was appointed in March 2012, succeeding Major General Mahdi Maqouleh[2] just days after the newly elected President of Yemen, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took office and pledged to destroy al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula once and for all.
[3][4] According to a report by Chinese news agency Xinhua, Yemeni militants had assassinated Qatan in response to the army offensive in the south of Yemen.
A spokesperson for the Yemeni militants told the news agency, "One of our jihadists succeeded in assassinating Gen Salem Ali Qatan who had led a month-long offensive against our families and strongholds in Abyan.
[8][9][10] Ali Mansur, a veteran army commander and close aide to Qatan, described the general's death as "a huge loss for Yemen".