US kills top al-Qaeda official during operation in Yemen

US President Donald Trump released a statement on Thursday night stating that it conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen during which it was able to assassinate al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) founder and leader Qasim al-Rimi.

They additionally killed Ayman al-Zawahiri,a deputy within the terrorist organization.

The attack which had killed the Rimi occurred in January. Trump had initially suggested that the US had carried out the attack in Yemen in a series of retweets on Saturday, according to the New York Post.

According to Trump’s statement, Rimi joined al-Qaeda in the 1990s and was the leader of AQAP. He was a US-designated terrorist, according to the Counter Terrorism Project (CTP). The AQAP leader before him, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, was killed in a US drone strike. Trump’s statement did not clarify in what matter Rimi died, though numerous reports suggest that it was also in a US drone strike.

Rimi played a key role, according to CTP, in AQAP’s “seizure of territory in Yemen’s southern provinces.”

“Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the United States and our forces,” Trump said in the statement. “”His death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa’ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security.”

Reuters contributed to this report.