Her arm Al Qaeda in Yemen announced his death yesterday Sunday leader by Khalid Batarfi, without disclosing the reasons, according to the US-based online jihadist watchdog SITE Intelligence Group.

According to the source, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released footage of the funeral of its leader, whose body was wrapped in a flag bearing the name of the jihadist group.

“God took his soul while he was patiently waiting for his reward and (…) waged a holy war,” says an AKAH fighter in a nearly 15-minute video reproduced by the SITE Intelligence Group.

What is AKAH?

AKAH, which was born in 2009when al-Qaeda’s arms in Yemen and Saudi Arabia merged, is considered by US intelligence to be the most dangerous offshoot of the extremist Sunni network.

The organization announced in February 2020 that it was headed by Khalid Batarfiabout forty years old, after his predecessor Qasim al-Rimi was killed in a US UAV strike in Yemen.

Khalid Batarfi was featured international terrorist from Washington in 2018.

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, after his death AKAH named Atef al-Awlaki as its new leader. The man was last seen in February 2023 in a video calling for Sunni tribesmen to join the group, according to the same source.

AQAP has thrived in chaos because of the war that has raged in Yemen since 2014 between the internationally recognized Saudi-backed government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

It carries out attacks against both Shia rebels and government forces.