U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that al Qaeda's top bomb-maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri has been killed

Donald Trump has confirmed that al Qaeda's top bomb-maker was killed in a a 2017 US counter-terrorism operation in Yemen.

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri was long wanted by American authorities for being the mastermind behind the failed 2009 plot to blow up a US- bound airplane.

In a statement released by the White House on Thursday, the Commander-in-chief called al-Asiri's death a victory in America's long fight against terrorism.

'The United States will continue to hunt down terrorists like al-Asiri until they no longer pose a threat to our great Nation,' Trump stated.

The President did not reveal details of the operation which took out al-Asiri, nor did he explain why he has now chosen to make the news public.

US officials said last year they were confident al-Asiri had been killed but others had said at the time that the evidence was not conclusive.

President Donald Trump announced the news in a statement on Thursday

Trump says the death of al-Asiri has significantly handicapped al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The noted terrorist was a Saudi-born militant with al Qaeda's Yemen branch, and was known for his ability to create hard-to-detect bombs.

Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is serving multiple life sentences in prison for trying to set off the bomb in his underwear on the US- bound flight

According to CNN, al-Asiri perfected miniaturized bombs with no metal content, meaning that they could easily go undetected during airport security screenings.

al-Asiri's activities kept airports on tenterhooks for edge for yars, and at times forced the suspension of flights across the Atlantic, AFP reports.

al-Asiri is most notorious for being the mastermind behind the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of a passenger jet flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.

On that flight, Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate an explosive device concealed in his underwear.

However, the bomb failed to explode and Abdulmutallab was tackled to the ground by a fellow passenger.

He is serving multiple life sentences in Colorado's supermax prison, ADX Florence.

Bomber shorts: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab wore this underwear outfitted with explosives for three weeks before the failed bomb attempt on Christmas Day 2009

In 2010, less than a year later, al-Asiri was linked to another foiled bomb plot against the United States.

Investigators discovered printer cartridges packed with PETN and sent by an international courier with Chicago-area synagogues listed as the destination.

The explosive-rigged packages - believed powerful enough to bring down a plane - were pulled off airplanes in England and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Asiri then became a major focus of America's anti-terrorism efforts.

In March 2011, Washington officially designated him as a wanted terrorist, and confirmed that he was the primary bombmaker for al-Qaeda.

He is also believed to have built an explosive device intended to be used against a passenger aircraft in 2012.

Al-Asiri was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia to a military family and has been accused of recruiting his younger brother, Abdulla, as a suicide bomber for a failed 2009 attack on Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia.