U.S. Kills al Qaeda Figure Accused of Leading 2000 Attack on USS Cole
U.S. Kills al Qaeda Figure Accused of Leading 2000 Attack on USS Cole
Jamal al-Badawi, the accused mastermind of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, is shown attending his trial in October 2007.
Photo:
khaled fazaa/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
WASHINGTON—The U.S. killed Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni al Qaeda operative accused of leading the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, in a strike this month, a U.S. defense official said.
President Trump announced the death in a tweet on Sunday, saying: “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.”
The Jan. 1 precision strike targeted Mr. Badawi as he was driving alone east of the Yemeni capital, San’a, in Marib governorate, the official said. Until Friday, the Pentagon said it was still assessing whether Mr. Badawi had been hit in the strike.
The Pentagon confirmed his death after Mr. Trump’s tweet.
A photo taken in October 2000 shows the port side of the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole damaged after a bomb exploded during a refueling operation in the port of Aden in Yemen.
Photo:
ho/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The Cole bombing took place Oct. 12, 2000, while the ship was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden. A small boat carrying C4 explosives and two suicide bombers rammed the port side of the destroyer, creating a huge gash and detonating explosives that killed 17 U.S. sailors and the bombers and injured 40 others. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
A U.S. grand jury indicted Mr. Badawi in 2003 for his role in the bombing, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation offered as much as $5 million for information leading to his capture.
Yemeni authorities held Mr. Badawi until April 2003, when he escaped. He was recaptured in March 2004, but escaped again in February 2006.
A suspected mastermind of the attack, Abd al-Nashiri, is being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr. Trump announced Mr. Badawi’s death as he spent the day at Camp David, where he is leading meetings with senior White House staff on the administration’s 2019 agenda. Back in Washington, top White House officials including Vice President Mike Pence are holding the second consecutive day of talks with congressional staff on the partial government shutdown.
Write to Nancy A. Youssef at nancy.youssef@wsj.com and Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
Appeared in the January 7, 2019, print edition as 'U.S. Kills Key Figure In Cole Attack.'
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