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Senior Fellow and Editor of The Long War Journal
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
AQAP is often cited as the jihadist franchise ideologically closest to the al-Qaeda core (Stratfor) due to many of its members' close history with Osama bin Laden. Nasir al Wuhayshi, the head of the organization, was reportedly killed in August 2011, but it remains unconfirmed. Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal also reports that under Wuhayshi's orders, AQAP has created Ansar al Sharia, the political front for its operations in Yemen.