Qasim al-Raymi
| Abu Hureira Qasm al-Rimi | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 5 June 1978 Yemen |
| Nationality | Yemeni |
| Other names | Qassim al Rimi |
| Known for | Emir of AQAP |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
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| Years of service | 1990's–present |
| Rank | Emir of AQAP |
| Battles/wars | |
Qasim al-Raymi (Arabic: قاسم الريمي) is the current emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Raymi is one of 23 men who escaped in the 3 February 2006 prison-break in Yemen, along with other notable al-Qaeda members. He next appears in connection to a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists. In 2009, the Yemeni government accused him of being responsible for the running of an al-Qaeda training camp in Abyan province. After serving as AQAP's military commander, Al-Raymi was promoted to leader after the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi on June 12, 2015.
al-Raymi was born on 5 June 1978 in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. He was a trainer at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan during the 1990s before returning to Yemen. In 2004, he was imprisoned for five years for being suspected in a series of embassy bombings in the capital.
After escaping from prison in 2006, al-Raymi, along with Nasir al-Wuhayshi, oversaw the formation of al-Qaeda in Yemen, which took in both new recruits and experienced Arab fighters returning from battlefields across Iraq and Afghanistan.
The group claimed responsibility for two suicide bomb attacks that killed six Western tourists before being linked to the assault on the US embassy in Sana'a in September 2008, in which militants detonated bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades. Ten Yemeni guards and four civilians were killed, along with six assailants.
In January 2009, al-Raymi, along with four other men, appeared in a video calling for the foundation of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a unification of both al-Qaeda's Yemen and Saudi Arabian branches. He was introduced as AQAP's military commander. The other men were identified as Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri and Nasir al-Wuhayshi.
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