The United States has conducted a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen during which Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula chief Qasim al-Rimi and his deputy were eliminated, the White House says.
"At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qasim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and a deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri", the statement said on Thursday.
According to the statement, al-Rimi was linked to plotting "numerous attacks" against the United States and its assets.
Rimi is said to be a veteran of al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan who later returned to his native Yemen and whose terrorist roots trace back to the era before the tragic events of 9/11.
A bounty of $10 million was offered earlier by the US Department of State for any information leading to al-Rimi's whereabouts.
The Yemeni branch of the terrorist group was spawned after the death of the infamous organisation's leader, Osama Bin Laden, and is said to be the most active offshoot of the remaining militants on the Arabian Peninsula.
*Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other states