U.S. kills terrorist involved in USS Cole attack

A U.S. airstrike in Yemen last week killed an al-Qaeda member suspected of helping plot the fatal bombing of the USS Cole nearly 20 years ago, the U.S. Central Command said Sunday. Navy spokesman Capt. William Urban said the military confirmed through “a deliberate assessment process” that Jamal al-Badawi died in the Jan. 1 strike east of Sanaa, the capital city. On Oct. 12, 2000, suicide bombers in an explosives-filled boat attacked the Cole as it was refueling at the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors and injuring at least 30 others. A federal grand jury in 2003 indicted al-Badawi for his role in the attack.

President Donald Trump welcomed the strike in a Sunday morning tweet: “Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. … We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.”