WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Jamal al-Badawi, wanted by the United States for his suspected role in the attack on the USS Cole 18 years ago, was killed in a precision strike in Yemen on Jan. 1, US Central Command said on Sunday. Badawi was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2003 over his role in the October 2000 deadly bombing of the USS Cole, a Navy guided-missile destroyer. It is the latest blow to Yemen’s al Qaeda branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has lost key leaders in US strikes in recent years. The death of Badawi removes perhaps the last major figure in the USS Cole attack from the battlefield. The Cole attack was a devastating blow to the US Navy.

Source: Egypt Independent January 07, 2019 11:26 UTC