Jamal al-Badawi, wanted by the United States for his suspected role in the attack on the USS Cole 18 years ago, was killed in a precision strike in Yemen on Jan. 1, U.S. Central Command said on Sunday. Badawi was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2003 over his role in the October 2000 deadly bombing of the USS Cole, a Navy guided-missile destroyer. “U.S. forces confirmed the results of the strike following a deliberate assessment process,” said Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban, two days after the Defense Department said U.S. forces had targeted Badawi in the strike.
