AQAP Leader Nasr Ibn Ali Al-Ansi Killed In Drone Strike
An online video statement has claimed that Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, a senior “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (AQAP) leader, has died in a U.S. drone attack.
The video statement was made by AQAP’s media wing, Al-Malahem Media. An official U.S. statement has also confirmed the death of al-Ansi, though it is not clear which drone strike he died in or whether he died in a drone strike at all.
A Yemen citizen, al-Ansi enrolled in the Iman University in 1993 which was, at the time, headed by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, a close friend of Osama Bin Laden. By 1995, al-Ansi was involved in the Bosnian War as a member of the El Mudzahid (the Bosnian mujahideen) alongside radical cleric Abu Hamza. Following the Bosnian War, al-Ansi returned to Yemen, then Afghanistan, where he met with Osama Bin Laden and joined AQAP. CNN reports that he was jailed for six months in Yemen before joining AQAP.
Among the atrocities committed by AQAP, the most prominent in recent memory would be the Charlie Hebdo shooting. On January 7, two brothers, Saïd and Cherif Kouachi, stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris armed with assault rifles. They shot and killed eleven Charlie Hebdo employees, in response to their drawing of Muhammad. Al-Ansi rapidly claimed responsibility for the shooting, posting a video statement praising the attackers and condemning the victims. He also blamed the U.S. for the shooting and urged any jihadists to conduct “lone wolf” style attacks in their home nations.
“If he is capable to wage individual jihad in the Western countries that fight Islam — such as America, Britain, France, Canada and others of the countries that represent the head of disbelief in waging war against Islam… if he is capable of that, then that is better and more harmful. But if that is impossible, and he is able to serve his brothers on the front lines, then let him immigrate, for it is better.”
Al-Ansi also acted as a middleman in an attempt to link AQAP’s forces up with terrorist group ISIS and unite them against the West, citing “expulsion of Jews and crusaders from the peninsula” as inspiration.
Aside from being AQAP’s spokesman, al-Ansi also acted as one of the senior war commanders, so his death is quite a big blow for AQAP’s war efforts, especially considering he is the second AQAP leader killed in the past month. Ibrahim al-Rubaish was also killed in U.S drone attacks in April. Like al-Ansi, al-Rubaish was a senior battle strategist.
[Photo Credit: CNN Video Screengrab]
