Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch has announced the death of its leader, although the circumstances remain unclear. A video published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) showed Khalid Batarfi’s body wrapped in a funeral shroud and the group’s banner. A statement read by a senior figure did not indicate how he died, but it used wording that did not suggest he was killed as his predecessor was. Batarfi, a Saudi national who was in his 40s, became AQAP’s leader in 2020.
The US designated him a global terrorist in 2018 and placed a $5m (£3.9m) bounty on his head.
In the video posted on the group’s outlets on social media on Sunday, AQAP official Abu Khubaib al-Sudani read out a statement that offered no details about Batarfi’s death.
However, BBC Monitoring jihadist media analyst Mina al-Lami said he described him as one “who Allah took”. Sudani also announced that AQAP’s shura council had chosen Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki as the group’s new chief.
Credit: bbc.com
