Qassim al-Rimi: US forces killed al-Qaida leader in Yemen, Trump confirms

Associated Press
Fri 7 Feb 2020 00.35 GMT

Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US at his direction conducted a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen that killed Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors.

Al-Rimi was a founder of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The affiliate has long been considered the global network’s most dangerous branch for its attempts to carry out attacks on the US mainland. Trump said the US and its allies are safer as a result of his death.

“We will continue to protect the American people by tracking down and eliminating terrorists who seek to do us harm,“ Trump said.

While Trump confirmed reports that al-Rimi had been killed, he did not say when the US operation was conducted or offer any details about how it was carried out.

Al-Rimi had said in an 18-minute video that his group was responsible for the 6 December shooting at the base. He called the shooter, the Saudi air force officer Mohammed Alshamrani, a “courageous knight” and a “hero”. The shooter opened fire inside a classroom at the base, killing three people and wounding two sheriff’s deputies before one of the deputies killed him. Eight others were also hurt.

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