Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula announces death of leader Khalid Batarfi
Al Jazeera
Armed group says Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki takes over as new leader after Batarfi’s death, according to SITE.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has announced the death of its leader Khalid Batarfi and appointed a successor, according to an intelligence service monitoring armed group networks worldwide.
SITE Intelligence Group reported late on Sunday that a statement by AQAP did not give a cause for Batarfi’s death. It said Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki would take over as new leader.
“God took his soul while he patiently sought his reward and stood firm, immigrated, garrisoned and waged jihad,” SITE quoted an AQAP veteran as saying of Batarfi in a nearly 15-minute video.
The clip showed Batarfi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and the black-and-white flag of al-Qaeda.
Born in Saudi Arabia and believed to have been in his 40s, Batarfi was named AQAP’s leader in early 2020 after his predecessor, Qassim al-Rimi, was killed by a United States drone strike in what then-President Donald Trump said was a counterterrorism operation in Yemen.
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