AlQaeda’s Yemen branch leader Batarfi dead in unclear circumstances
The leader of Yemen’s branch of alQaeda is dead, the militant group announced late on Sunday, without giving details.
Khalid alBatarfi had a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government over leading the group in the peninsula, through years that saw him imprisoned, freed in a jailbreak, and governing forces in Yemen amid that country’s grinding war.
Though believed to be weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected U.S. drone strikes killing its leaders, the AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has long been considered the most dangerous branch of the extremist group still operating after the killing of founder Osama bin Laden.
AlQaeda released a video showing Batarfi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and alQaeda’s blackandwhite flag.
No visible trauma
Militants offered no details on the cause of his death and there was no clear sign of trauma visible on his face. Batarfi was believed to be in his early 40s.
“Allah took his soul while he patiently sought his reward and stood firm, immigrated, garrisoned, and waged jihad,” the militants said in the video, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
The group made the announcement on the eve of Ramzan, the Muslim holy fasting month that Yemen will begin on Monday.
In the announcement, the group said Saad bin Atef alAwlaki would take over as its leader. The U.S. has a $6 million bounty on him, saying Awlaki “has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies.”
Batarfi, born in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, had travelled to Afghanistan in 1999 and fought alongside the Taliban during the U.S.led invasion. He joined AQAP in 2010 and led forces in taking over Yemen’s Abyan province, according to the U.S.
Batarfi took over as the head of the branch in February 2020. He succeeded leader Qassim alRimi, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike.
In 2020, there had been claims that Bartafi had been detained, which later were denied. In 2021, he appeared in a militant video and referred to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as “only the tip of the iceberg of what will come to them, God willing.”
Overseas operations
The AQAP has been seen by Washington as the terror network’s most dangerous branch ever since its attempt in 2009 to bomb a commercial airliner over the U.S. It claimed responsibility for the 2015 deadly attack in Paris on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. But their overseas operations have waned in recent years.
Estimates provided to the UN put AQAP’s total forces as numbering between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members.
Under Batarfi, AQAP fell further under the influence of alQaeda fighter Saif alAdl, now believed to have led the militant group after the killing of Ayman alZawahiri in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022. That came as Yemen has been locked in a war between the Houthi rebels, who hold the capital, Sanaa, and a Saudi Arabialed coalition backing the country’s exiled government based in Aden.
Batarfi’s ties to alAdl had strained relations in AQAP, experts say. However, it has seen the militants become armed with bombcarrying drones — something the Houthis now use to target shipping in the Red Sea amid the IsraelHamas war in the Gaza Strip.