ELIMINATED

U.S. Kills Leader of Terror Cell That Claimed Pensacola Shooting

The White House said the U.S. carried out a successful drone strike on the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that the U.S. has killed the leader of a group that claimed responsibility for December’s fatal shooting at a U.S. naval base in Pensacola, Florida. The White House said in a statement that the U.S. carried out a successful drone strike on the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Qasim al-Rimi. AQAP claimed responsibility for the Pensacola shooting in which a member of the Saudi air force—who was at the Florida base for training—killed three people and injured seven others. However, it was reported at the time that U.S. intelligence doubted the credibility of the claim of responsibility. Trump said in the statement that the leader’s death “further degrades AQAP and the global al Qaeda movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security.” It follows a U.S. airstrike in January that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, and in October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a nighttime raid.