The al-Qaida leader mocking President Donald Trump was the target of a Navy SEAL raid in Yemen last week, NBC News reported.
Qassim al-Rimi, the head of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was still alive and in Yemen, multiple military officials said Monday. He called Trump a fool Sunday and said the American raid against his terrorist group killed 25 people, including 11 women and children.
One SEAL was killed during the firefight and three others were injured in Trump's first counterterrorism operation, The New York Times reported. The military said about 14 al-Qaida fighters were killed, including Abdulrauf al Dhahab.
The mission, which took place last Saturday, had been planned for months, according to senior officials, but former President Barack Obama had passed on the operation to his successor. Trump approved the mission and Navy SEAL Team 6 carried out the attack in the mountains of Bayda Province. The Times said commandos were looking to obtain computer materials inside the house of Anwar al-Awlaki's brother-in-law, a top al-Qaida leader in Yemen.
But the prospect of killing al-Rimi was the main reason the mission was considered worth the risk, military officials told NBC News.
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