aqap

Some of these franchise groups are very small. AQAP is reckoned by Yemeni officials to be able to field about 400 men.

Instead, he has been treated as a valued ally in recognition of his rather belatedly and patchily rendered services against AQAP.

It may find itself run by a mixture of jihadists, including both AQAP and criminal gangs; exclusive AQAP rule seems unlikely at present.

AQAP portrays itself as the defender of the Yemeni population against a despised government and American aggression.

Militant Islamists in Yemen are by no means limited to AQAP, though it is the most ideologically extreme of the Islamist groups.

Better armed and trained Yemeni forces have begun to take the offensive against AQAP strongholds.

AQAP's first effort to post the magazine to jihadist websites failed Wednesday, as many of the pages were contaminated with a virus.

These cases illustrate our determination to pursue AQAP and undermine AQAP senior leaders' planning and coordination capabilities.

Yet this Middle Eastern spring of revolt has made the chances of AQAP being capable of filling a power vacuum seem remote.

However, Western security sources see AQAP as a major and growing threat both to "far" and "near" enemies.

A U. S. official has said Saudi bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, believed to be working with AQAP, is a key suspect.

AQAP has training camps in Yemen and calls in Arabic and English for attacks on American and Saudi targets and on the Yemeni government.

Al-Rimi is AQAP's senior military commander and played a critical role in reviving the regional al-Qaida affiliate.

We are determined to eliminate AQAP's ability to execute violent attacks and to disrupt, dismantle and defeat their networks.

'Instability and diversion of attention from dealing with AQAP is certainly my primary concern about the situation, ' Mr. Gates said.

AQAP had advertised for days that the magazine would appear with the interviews specified in the table of contents.

The Shabwah attack killed a number of militants (but not al-Awlaki) and led locals to demand that AQAP operatives leave.

But AQAP is entrenched, has widened its reach and has grown in strength under Mr Saleh's rule.

These local jihadists merged with fugitive Saudi al-Qaeda operatives to form al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in January 2009.

At the end of Ramadan (September 9th), AQAP published a hit list of 55 senior security officers.

AQAP is adept at using technology to achieve this goal.

Although its international attacks get most publicity, AQAP's main effort has been in Yemen and, to a lesser extent, in Saudi Arabia.

AQAP, for example, is by far the most energetic part of al-Qaeda at present.