Khalid al-Batarfi, Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch leader carrying $5mn bounty, is dead
File photo.
Khalid al-Batarfi, the leader of Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch (known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula orAQAP), has died, the terrorist outfit announced on Sunday (Mar 10). According to a report by the news agency Associated Press on Monday, Al-Qaeda released a video showing al-Batarfi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and the outfit's black and white flag. He was believed to be in his early 40s.
Al-Qaeda said that Atef al-Awlaki would take over as its branch's leader in Yemen. The report said that al-Batarfi took over as AQAP's head in February 2020. He succeeded leader Qassim al-Rimi, who was killed by a US drone strike ordered by then-president Donald Trump.
Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Batarfi travelled to Afghanistan in 1999 and fought alongside the Taliban during the US-led invasion. He joined the AQAP in 2010
A $5 million bounty from US
The US government had designated al-Batarfi as a global terrorist in 2018 and placed a $5 million bounty on his head for leading the AQAP. Meanwhile, the new leader al-Awlaki has a $6 million bounty on him from the US with Washington saying he "has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies."
The AQAP has been seen by the US as Al-Qaeda's most dangerous branch ever since it attempted to bomb a commercial airliner over the US in 2009. The branch claimed responsibility for the 2015 deadly attack in Paris on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
A recent report by the United Nations (UN) said, "Although in decline, AQAP remains the most effective terrorist group in Yemen with intent to conduct operations in the region and beyond."
The AQAP has between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members. The Yemen branch raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops, as well as smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies and ransom operations, the UN has said.
Under al-Batarfi, AQAP fell further under the influence of Al-Qaeda fighter Saif al-Adl, now believed to have led the group after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in an American drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022.
Last year, a report by the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies said, "Since 2020, Saif al-Adel has been able to convince al-Batarfi of his strategic approach, focused on confronting Western states and their allies in Yemen — the Saudi-led coalition, the Aden-based government, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its allies — rather than confronting the Iranian-backed Houthi movement."
(With inputs from agencies)