President Donald Trump said on Thursday that US forces have killed Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in an operation inside Yemen.

The jihadist leader had been linked to a series of attacks on Western interests in the 2000s.

Al-Rimi claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly shooting at US Naval Air Station in Pensacola,  Florida, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three US sailors. He had led the jihadist group since 2015.

The statement from the White House confirmed al-Rimi’s death but it did not say when he was killed.

“His 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. The United States, our interests, and our allies are safer as a result of his death,” the statement read.,