Militant Suspected Of USS Cole Bombing Is Killed In U.S. Airstrike, Trump Says - NPR

The USS Cole approximately one month before being attacked by an al-Qaida suicide mission, which killed 17 American sailors in the port of Aden, Yemen. Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption

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President Trump on Sunday confirmed that a United States airstrike in Yemen has killed one of the militants believed to be behind the deadly USS Cole bombing in 2000.

Jamal al-Badawi, an al-Qaida commander, was on the FBI's most wanted list for his part in the attack. Seventeen American sailors died in the bombing, which came when two suicide attackers in a small boat detonated explosives as the Navy destroyer was refueling in Yemen's Aden harbor. The blast left a gaping hole in the side of the Cole. Nearly 40 others were injured in the attack.

"Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole," President Trump tweeted on Sunday. "We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi. Our work against al Qaeda continues. We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!"

Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi. Our work against al Qaeda continues. We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019

U.S. military officials had previously announced they targeted al-Badawi in a "precision strike" in Yemen on New Year's Day. They said there was no collateral damage.

"Jamal al-Badawi was a legacy al Qaeda operative in Yemen," said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. "U.S. forces confirmed the results of the strike following a deliberate assessment process."

U.S. investigators say al-Badawi had previously confessed to his role in the attack. He was indicted by a federal grand jury, but was never extradited from Yemen and escaped from prison there twice — first in 2003 and again in 2006.

Another of the alleged planners, Saudi-born Abd al-Nashiri, is being held at Guantanamo Bay and could face the death penalty.

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