US launches air strike at leader of al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen
>>SANAA: The United States has carried out an air strike against the leader of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen after months of tracking him by using aerial surveillance and other intelligence, according to three current or former American officials.
The officials expressed confidence that the leader, Qassim al-Rimi, was killed in a January air strike in Yemen but were awaiting confirmation before making a public announcement.
If confirmed, his death could represent a significant blow to the al-Qaeda affiliate, which remains one of the most potent branches of the terrorist group. The Yemen branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has tried to attack the United States and Europe and is thought to still want to.
The group’s ability to orchestrate or attack targets in the West has atrophied in recent years, as US air strikes have targeted their bomb-makers and
English-language propagandists. But the group, American officials have previously said, remains a dangerous one.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State leaders have been targeted in the past by American military or CIA drone strikes, only for US officials to learn later that the militants had survived. That has made American officials more cautious about declaring these kind of strikes successful.
Military officials said they were not aware of any strikes. The CIA and the National Security Council declined to comment.
The CIA learned of al-Rimi’s location from an informer in Yemen in November, according to a United States official who was briefed on the strike. News reports in Yemen said that a drone strike this month killed two militant suspects in the area of Wadi Abedah in central Yemen. The reports did not identify the people killed in the strike.