Last week, the UN announced that the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Khalid Batarfi, was arrested and his deputy leader was killed. This week, he emerged a lot less under arrest than officials prefer to believe.
Batarfi appeared in a video addressing the January 6 riot at the US capital, saying it was “only the tip of the iceberg.” Batarfi being involved is noteworthy because he was supposed still under arrest.
Local tribal leaders say they believe Batarfi was never arrested, but that it was someone else from AQAP who kind of looked like him, and who they assume was also a “senior” member.
It’s not clear how big of a deal it is operationally, as Batarfi has only been leader AQAP for about a year, so he’s hardly the sort of entrenched leadership figure whose ouster would be a game-changer.
Skip to content
Original and up-to-date news