Arabian Peninsula al- Qaeda leader dies in US raid in Yemen

Qasim al-Raymi has been associated with a series of attacks on Western targets over the past decade. For the White House, his death "degrades" the most dangerous section of al-Qaeda in the region. Rumors of his death had already circulated in January, denied on February 2 by an audio message released by the jihadist leader himself.

Dubai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - US special forces killed Qasim al-Raymi, leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) since 2015 in a raid in Yemen. American President Donald Trump himself made the announcement yesterday evening, in the context of an anti-terrorist operation launched in the region and successfully concluded.

The jihadist leader is associated with a series of attacks against Western targets that occurred in the 2000s. He took the lead of the terrorist group on the death of his predecessor, killed in the context of a drone strike from the United States.

" 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 a 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,” the president said.

The al-Qaeda movement in the Arabian Peninsula was born in 2009, following the union of two sections of al-Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, with the aim of overthrowing local governments supported by Washington, eliminating their influence in the area. Most of the attacks were concentrated in Yemen, where it was able to strike more easily thanks to the political instability that has characterized the country for years.

Rumors of Qasim al-Raymi's death had already circulated in the United States as early as the end of January. In response, the jihadist group released an audio message on February 2, stating that Aqap had planned and launched the deadly attack on a US naval base in Pensacola, Florida.

For the White House, it was the most dangerous and deadly section of the al-Qaeda network in the region. The note released today does not clarify when the operation that killed the jihadist leader took place. A Yemeni government source, behind anonymity, confirms that a drone raid took place recently in Marib, but it would not be the same attack in which al-Raymi died.