Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in an audiotape message claims it directed Florida Naval Base attack.
In the audio recording released on Sunday, 2nd February 2020, the AQAP’s leader in Yemen, Qasim al-Raymi claimed responsibility for the December 2019 attack that killed three U.S. sailors and injured eight others.
The Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group offered no evidence that it had trained the gunman who perpetrated the attack, Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the group indicate that he had been in contact with Al-Qaeda.
According to U.S. and Yemeni security authorities, AQAP’s leader Qasim al-Rimi, may himself be dead as he was the target of an American drone strike in eastern Yemen last week. The officials says they believed al-Rimi had been killed but were awaiting confirmation.
In 2018, U.S. had doubled a bounty reward for information about Mr. al-Rimi’s whereabouts to $10 million. CIA confirmed to had picked al-Rimi’s trails in November 2019.
Qasim al-Rimi had been considered a potential successor to Ayman al-Zawahri, the overall emir (leader) of Al-Qaeda, terrorist network.
The U.S. Justice Department last month highlighted that it was sending home 21 Saudi students from the Pensacola base after they were found to be in possession of jihadist material or pornography.
Attorney General Bill Barr reiterated that the Saudi government had undertaken to review each case under its code of military justice. Pornography is forbidden in the kingdom.
Insight
The timing of this audio is designed to cause maximum humiliation for U.S. President Donald Trump, who a day ago had just retweeted reports of Qasim al-Rimi’s death. The audio also signals that AQAP has infiltrated the Saudi military, which I shame for the Saudis.
Colin P. Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based research organization, notes that AQAP’s claim to have directed Alshamrani in the attack could well be legitimate and could ignite the battle between FBI and Apple for access to Alshamrani’s phone even that much more critical. Apple had refused to unlock the shooter’s iphone.
