Members of the organization were executed and he died “suddenly”.. Who is Khaled Batarfi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen?

Surprisingly, Al-Qaeda in Yemen announced on Sunday the death of its leader, Khaled Batarfi, without specifying the cause or date of death.

The leader of the organization, Ibrahim Al-Qusi, known as Khubayb Al-Sudani, appeared in a video recording mourning his leader Batarfi, and he also announced the appointment of Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaki as his successor in the leadership of the extremist organization.

Al-Qusi, who is also the “legal official” for the Yemen base, did not specify the cause of Batarfi’s death, but he hinted that he died a natural death when he said that he died “patiently and seeking reward.” He also narrated hadiths about the “virtue” of the one who died, who was “an immigrant for the sake of God.” “And he was not killed.

The organization also published a picture of Batarfi wrapped in the organization’s flag, and no traces of blood or injuries appeared on him.

Who is Khaled Batarfi?

Khaled Batarfi, a Saudi national, was born in Riyadh in 1979.

At the beginning of his youth, he traveled early to Afghanistan, where he joined Al-Qaeda, trained in the Al-Farouq camp, and met Osama bin Laden. Two years after his arrival in Afghanistan, the September 11 attacks occurred.

After the fall of the Taliban regime and the disintegration of Al-Qaeda camps, Batarfi took refuge in Iran, as did dozens of Al-Qaeda members and leaders. The Iranian authorities arrested him and handed him over to the Yemeni government in 2004, where he spent six years in prison.

After his release, he joined Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and pledged allegiance to the organization’s leader at the time, Nasser al-Wahayshi (killed in 2015).

In 2010, Al-Qaeda expanded its influence and took control of several areas in Yemen, including Abyan Governorate. Khaled Batarfi was appointed “emir” of the state and leader of the organization there.

The following year, the organization took advantage of the massive demonstrations that swept the capital, Sana’a, the decline of the authority of Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime, and the chaos that swept a number of Yemeni provinces. It expanded its control under the banner of “Ansar al-Sharia” and declared the establishment of an “Islamic emirate” in the areas under its control.

In March 2011, Yemeni forces succeeded in arresting Khaled Batarfi, and he remained detained until 2015, when Al-Qaeda attacked Mukalla Central Prison and freed its prisoners.

The organization then broadcast a video clip documenting the process of storming the prison and removing Batarfi from it.

Two days after his escape from prison, Batarfi appeared in a group of photos sitting in the presidential palace in Al-Mukalla Governorate, southeastern Yemen, and since that day his face has remained familiar in the visual releases installed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

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Batarfi is a senior member of AQAP, which claimed responsibility for a December 2019 attack on a US naval base in Florida that killed 3 US Navy sailors.

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The extremist leader held several positions, the most important of which were the “emir” of Abyan Province, the “governor” of Hadramaut, the person in charge of the media and propaganda production department, the “Sharia Judge,” the organization’s spokesman, and then its leader starting in February 2020, succeeding Qasim al-Rimi, whom the organization admitted was killed in a raid. American.

On October 18, 2018, the US State Department offered a reward of $5 million to anyone who provides information leading to his arrest.

There were many rumors about his arrest, most notably those announced by the Security Council on February 3, 2021, when it issued a report indicating Batarfi’s arrest in October 2020 and his handover to the Saudi authorities. But on April 8, 2021, the organization issued a statement denying these allegations.

Before his official appearance in Al-Qaeda media, Batarfi used to write under the name “Abu Al-Miqdad Al-Kindi” in “jihadist” forums. He is considered one of the most active Al-Qaeda leaders in terms of media appearances, as he appeared in dozens of video and audio clips during the past nine years.

He executed members of the organization

Batarfi is considered the fourth leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. During his reign, deep disagreements arose within the organization against the backdrop of his execution of a number of its members on charges of espionage, including the famous jurist Abu Maryam al-Azdi and the security official Fayyad al-Hadrami.

Within a few years, the leaders of Al-Qaeda in Yemen fell successively under drone strikes, and the organization began a campaign to hunt “spies” in its ranks. The campaign led to the execution of a number of leaders, causing the Yemeni base to collapse due to disagreements.

As a result, hundreds of members defected, and then called on Ayman al-Zawahiri to intervene and put an end to the “transgressions, legal errors, and great injustices” committed by Al-Qaeda’s leadership in Yemen.

Batarfi also appeared in a video supervising the executions of a number of members of the organization accused of causing the death of its former leader, Nasser al-Wahishi.

Batarfi’s last appearance in Al-Qaeda media was last January, as part of a series of “lessons” that he had been publishing for some time, before Al-Qaeda announced his death yesterday.

Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaki was born in the early 1980s. He is of Yemeni nationality, from the Al-Awaliq tribe, and the US State Department has offered a financial reward of $6 million to anyone who provides information leading to his arrest.