The Reemergence of AQAP Operative Mish‘al Muhammad al-Shadawkhi

Mish‘al Muhammad al-Shadawkhi (Source: Nashwa News)

A telephone conversation between the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Ali Hamdan, and an al-Qaeda operative last April gave a rare glimpse into the shadow war between al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The al-Qaeda operative, Mish‘al Muhammad al-Shadawkhi took responsibility for kidnapping the Saudi Vice Consul, Abdullah al-Khalidi on March 28 in Yemen on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). A Yemeni security official stated, a group of armed men kidnapped al-Khalidi “while he was coming out of his home in the Mansoura district in Aden" (Xinhua English website, March 28). A source at the Saudi consulate in Aden added that armed men had robbed al-Khalidi two months earlier in the same place. Another police official stated that the kidnapping was not politically motivated, rather "he has some personal conflicts with people in Aden." This official added that al-Khalidi had been threatened and someone had "thrown a grenade at his home" (Al Jazeera, March 28). Kidnapping victims in Yemen are often released unharmed. When Yemeni tribesmen carry out such kidnappings, they generally ask for ransom or some concession from the central government. In this case, some in Yemen speculated, that if al-Khalidi had an intelligence role in targeting tribesman for attacks, he would probably be killed.