WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed that a senior al-Qaida bomb maker had been killed in a military operation two years ago.
"Ibrahim al-Asiri, a senior al-Qa'ida (al-Qaida) bomb maker and terrorist coordinator, was killed two years ago in a United States counterterrorism operation in Yemen," Trump said in a White House statement.
Al-Asiri's death significantly handicapped al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the statement added.
U.S. media previously reported that U.S. officials were confident that the Saudi-born al-Asiri had been killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2017, while the Thursday statement was the first confirmation of his death from the U.S. government.
Al-Asiri was considered to be the world's most dangerous terrorist for his innovative bomb designs. He was behind several failed terrorist attempts in the United States.
He built explosive devices that were used in the failed Christmas Day 2009 underwear bomb attack and the disrupted printer cartridge bomb plot in 2010, according to the statement.
