Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has released a new video that includes the testimony of several “spies” who have allegedly helped the Saudis and Americans hunt down the group’s members. There are reasons to be skeptical of AQAP’s claims, but the organization is clearly concerned that spies will do more damage to its hierarchy.
The State Department has designated Ibrahim al Banna as a terrorist. Al Banna has served as an al Qaeda official in Yemen since the 1990s. He originally joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and has been one of Ayman al Zawahiri’s loyalists for decades.
A new video from the Taliban features several images and clips of al Qaeda leaders, further demonstrating that the two remain firmly allied more than 15 years after the 9/11 hijackings.
In a letter written sometime in 2010 to al Qaeda’s leadership, AQAP emir Nasir al Wuhayshi detailed the areas in Yemen where the group had significant influence. AQAP took control of many of these areas in a 2011 offensive.
AQAP has published a two-part interview with Nasir al Wuhayshi, who was killed in a US drone strike in June 2015. The interview is a transcript of Wuhayshi’s account of the 9/11 plot. Wuhayshi was Osama bin Laden’s aide-de-camp prior to the hijackings.
AQAP has confirmed that its emir, Nasir al Wuhayshi, was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. The group’s new leader is Qasim al Raymi, who previously served as AQAP’s military commander.
Documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound reveal that Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, a senior Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official, was appointed as one of al Qaeda’s deputy general managers. It is highly likely that he continues to serve in that role underneath Nasir al Wuhayshi, who is both AQAP’s emir and al Qaeda’s global general manager.
Nasir al Wuhayshi, who is the emir of AQAP as well as al Qaeda’s general manager, has released a poem praising Ayman al Zawahiri as the “Sheikh father.” A video from two leading AQAP ideologues decrying the “slander” of jihadist leaders was released shortly afterwards. Al Qaeda members are trumpeting the messages as rebuttals to the Islamic State and its newly announced caliphate.
A video of Nasir al Wuhayshi, al Qaeda’s general manager, has sparked renewed interest in the media. Wuhayshi threatens the US in the video. His “core” leadership role gives him influence across al Qaeda’s international network.
A video released by the Al Nusrah Front stars Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, a jihadist ideologue who serves as a sharia official in the group. Sulayman discusses al Qaeda’s organizational scheme and hierarchy, as well as the ongoing conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS).
AQAP’s latest edition of Inspire magazine purports to show jihadists how to make car bombs similar to the one used by Faisal Shahzad, who was responsible for the failed May 2010 bombing in Times Square.
Bloomberg News reported that Ayman al Zawahiri communicated with “other regional terrorist commanders” as well as the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Zawahiri’s communications are what led the US to shutter more than 20 diplomatic facilities.
The Long War Journal has confirmed a report by the Daily Beast saying that multiple al Qaeda operatives were involved in the intercepted communications that led to the closure of more than 20 US diplomatic facilities.