[
In response to the SITE Intelligence Group, the armed group says Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki has taken over as the brand new chief following Batrafi's dying.
Al-Qaeda within the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has introduced the dying of its chief Khalid Batrafi and appointed a successor, in keeping with an intelligence service that displays the armed group's worldwide community.
SITE Intelligence Group reported late Sunday that an AQAP assertion didn’t give a trigger for Batarfi's dying. It stated Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki would take over as the brand new chief.
“God took his soul whereas he patiently sought his reward and persevered, immigrated, fought sieges and waged jihad,” the positioning quoted an AQAP veteran as saying about Batarfi in an almost 15-minute video.
The clip exhibits Batrafi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and the black and white flag of al-Qaeda.
Born in Saudi Arabia and believed to be in his 40s, Batrafi was named chief of AQAP in early 2020, after his predecessor Qasim al-Rimi was killed in a United States drone strike that killed then- President Donald Trump had described it as an anti-terrorism operation. In Yemen.
Batrafi was one in every of 150 jailed AQAP members who have been freed in 2015 after capturing the Yemeni port metropolis of Mukalla, the place he was being held.
SITE stated the brand new chief, al-Awlaki, final appeared in a video launched in February 2023, wherein he referred to as on Sunni tribesmen within the Yemeni provinces of Abyan and Shabwa to “resist efforts by the United Arab Emirates and the (separatist) Southern Transitional Authorities.” Was requested.” The Council will be a part of them of their battle towards AQAP.”
The US has positioned a $6 million bounty on al-Awlaki, saying he has “publicly referred to as for assaults towards america and its allies”.
Warfare broke out in Yemen in late 2014 when Houthi rebels, allied with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, captured a lot of the nation, together with the capital Sanaa. The battle escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-UAE-led coalition intervened towards the rebels to revive the internationally acknowledged authorities of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Yemen-based AQAP, in addition to different armed teams and militias, have taken benefit of the chaos of the battle between pro-government forces and the Houthis to increase their footprint.
Whereas analysts say the group has weakened in recent times, AQAP has lengthy been thought-about by the US to be al-Qaeda's most harmful department, nonetheless energetic after the killing of founder Osama bin Laden.
A latest UN report on al-Qaeda acknowledged, “Though in decline, AQAP stays the simplest terrorist group in Yemen with the intent to conduct operations within the area and past.”