US eliminates key terrorist in Yemen

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that the US had killed the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - days after the jihadist group claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a US naval base.

The US “conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qassim al-rimi, a founder and the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” Trump said in a White House statement.

AQAP claimed responsibility on Sunday for a December 6 shooting at US Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three American sailors.

The announcement came with Trump touting US resolve following the killings of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

in October last year and top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani three months later.

Washington considers the AQAP to be the jihadist network’s most dangerous branch.

The Sunni extremist group has thrived in the chaos of years of civil war between Yemen’s Saudibacked government and Shia rebels who control the capital.

“Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the US and our forces,” Trump said.

“His death further degrades AQAP and the global al Qaeda movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security.” Trump did not give any details about the operation. But it follows the killing of al-rimi’s predecessor Nasir al-wuhayshi in June 2015.