White House confirms death of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader

Qassim al-Rimi.
(Image credit: Yemeni Ministry of Interior/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House announced on Thursday evening that the leader and co-founder of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Qassim al-Rimi, was killed last month in a counterterrorism operation in Yemen.

Formed in 2009, Yemen-based AQAP claimed responsibility for last year's shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors. Rimi was a target of a January 2017 raid on an Al Qaeda compound in Yemen, and in the days following it he released a video taunting President Trump over the failed operation, saying, "the new fool in the White House received a painful slap across the face."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.