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AQAP Leader Qasim Al-Rimi
The United States is committed to supporting efforts to rid the Arabian Peninsula of the threat posed by the terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.
Qasim al-Rimi is the leader of AQAP. Born in Yemen in 1978, al-Rimi trained terrorists at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s. He subsequently returned to Yemen and became an AQAP military commander.
In 2005 Al-Rimi was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted in Yemen of plotting to assassinate the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen. However he escaped from a Yemeni prison after serving one year.
In May 2010, the Department of State designated al-Rimi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224.
Al-Rimi is linked to the September 2008 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a that left 10 Yemeni guards, four civilians, and six terrorists dead, and the December 2009 attempted suicide bombing by “underwear bomber” Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab aboard a U.S.-bound airliner.
Al-Rimi was named emir of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, in June 2015. The following month, he swore allegiance to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and called for renewed attacks against the United States.
The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice Program has increased its reward for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and or conviction of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leader Qasim al-Rimi from up to $5 million to up to $10 million
More information about the al-Rimi reward offer is available on the Rewards for Justice website at www.rewardsforjustice.net.
The United States remains committed to bringing terrorists to justice wherever they may lurk.