Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen is focusing on expanding its presence in a remote eastern province that is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, even as it remains the target of U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni military assaults, according to Yemeni officials. Last year, a U.S.-backed Yemeni military offensive drove the militants from the southern province of Abyan, which the fighters had seized during the country’s Arab Spring revolt and controlled for more than a year as they sought to create an Islamic emirate from which to attack the Yemeni government and Western targets.
But in recent months, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the affiliate is known, has bolstered its presence in Hadramaut, the country’s largest province, whose name some scholars say roughly translates as “Death is among us.” The region abuts Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally.
AQAP’s ambition of creating a new safe haven in Yemen was underscored this week when news broke that the Yemeni government had foiled a plot by the militants to seize Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramaut and a vital sea port, as well as destroy an oil pipeline and gas facilities. It was the first time, officials said, that AQAP had tried to take over Mukalla. The group’s increasing boldness comes as its ties to al-Qaeda’s central branch in Pakistan and its profile in jihadist circles are growing. AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who was once bin Laden’s personal secretary, now holds the No. 2 position in the terrorist network, second only to Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to analysts.
Read more: Washington Post
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