Al-Asiri's death "significantly handicapped" al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the statement said. It added that United States will continue to hunt down terrorists like al-Asiri "until they no longer pose a threat to our great Nation."
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump attempts to appear tough on terrorism in the face of a backlash over his abrupt decision to pull US troops from north-eastern Syria. Since then Turkey has since begun an incursion into the area to push out US-allied Kurdish fighters.
Rumours of al-Asiri’s death had been circulating for at least a year. US media reported in August 2018 that he was killed the year before in a CIA drone attack in Yemen in.
Al-Asiri built explosive devices used in the failed Christmas Day 2009 underwear bomb attack aboard a US-bound commercial flight. Another man was convicted in that attempted bombing and is serving a life sentence in the US.
Al-Asiri also allegedly built explosive devices intended to be used in a disrupted printer cartridge bomb plot in 2010, against another passenger aircraft in 2012 and in the attempted assassination of the former crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the statement said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------