Khalid Batarfi
Saudi al-Qaeda member (died 2024)
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Khalid Saeed Batarfi (Arabic: خالد سعيد باطرفي, romanized: Khālid Saʿīd Bāṭarfī; 1978 – March 2024), also known as Abū al-Miqdād al-Kindī (Arabic: أبو المقداد الكِنْدِي),[3] was a Saudi militant and the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.[4] He oversaw the Yemen-based group's media network[5] and led jihadist fighters in their takeover of Yemen's Abyan Governorate in 2011, where he was accorded the position of emir.[6][7] He also reputedly carried out terrorist attacks in the Abyan and Hadhramaut governorates.[5]
Khalid Saeed Batarfi | |
|---|---|
خالد سعيد باطرفي | |
Batarfi appearing in an AQAP video | |
| Born | 1978[1] |
| Died | March 2024 (aged 46) |
| Other names | Abū al-Miqdād al-Kindī, Abū al-Miqdād al-Kanadī |
| Known for | Emir of AQAP |
| Predecessor | Qasim al-Raymi |
| Successor | Sa'ad bin Atef al-Awlaki |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  AQAP (2010–2024) |
| Service years | 2010–2024 |
| Rank | Supreme commander (Emir) of Abyan (2010–2011) Field commander in Hadramaut (2020–2024) |
| Conflicts | Yemen Insurgency |
On 17 March 2011, Batarfi was captured by security forces in the Taiz Governorate.[5] For four years, he was imprisoned in Mukalla. He was freed, along with about 300 other inmates, by al-Qaeda fighters on 2 April 2015, during the Battle of Mukalla.[4][7][8] The Washington Post compared the Mukalla prison break to the escape of 23 fighters, including future AQAP emir Nasir al-Wuhayshi, from a Yemeni prison in 2006, a formative event for the group.[9]
Batarfi attracted media attention when he posed for photographs taken by al-Qaeda members in the Hadhramaut governor's palace, which fighters took over.[7][10]
Batarfi was promoted to leader after the death of Qasim al-Raymi in January 2020.[11] In February 2021, the United Nations claimed that Batarfi was arrested during a security operation in Al Ghaydah in October 2020.[12] However, Batarfi later appeared in a video discussing the 6 January 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.[13]
The U.S. Rewards for Justice Program offered up to $5 million in exchange for information leading to Batarfi's apprehension.[1]
AQAP announced Batarfi's death on 10 March 2024 and named Sa'ad bin Atef al-Awlaki as his successor. It did not give a cause of death for Batarfi.[14]
