President Donald Trump announced Rimi's death earlier this month, saying the US had "conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen" that eliminated him. That announcement came shortly after AQAP claimed responsibility for the December 6 mass shooting at a US naval base in Florida, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three American sailors.
Washington considers AQAP to be the worldwide jihadist network's most dangerous branch. The Sunni extremist group has thrived in the chaos of years of civil war between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Shiite rebels who control the capital.
"Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the United States and our forces," Trump said at the time. "His death further degrades AQAP and the global Al-Qaeda movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security."