Al-Qaeda leader in the Arabian Peninsula was killed in US operation in Yemen.

Qasim al-Rimi has led the group since 2015 and has been linked to a series of attacks over the last two decades.

In a statement, US President Donald Trump did not specify how he was killed, but according to recent rumors, it happened in a drone airstrike.

Rimi's "death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa'ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security," the White House said in a statement Thursday. "The United States, our interests, and our allies are safer as a result of his death. We will continue to protect the American people by tracking down and eliminating terrorists who seek to do us harm."