To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the operational capability of Al Qaeda in Yemen.
Answered on
24 March 2015
Al Qaeda in Yemen or Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been operating in Yemen since 2009 and has murdered hundreds of Yemenis each year, including civilians and members of the police and security forces. AQAP also continues to pose a serious and direct threat to the UK and its interests, and remains intent on, and capable of, conducting external attacks. We currently assess that the gravest threat to the UK from AQAP comes from its ongoing ambition to strike international airliners and cause mass civilian casualties. We also have concerns that AQAP could cooperate and share its technical capability with other Al Qaeda (AQ)-aligned groups. Through their extremist propaganda (e.g. Inspire magazine) AQ and its affiliates also wish to radicalise Muslims and incite extremist violence.
Continued instability in Yemen, longer-term, increases the risk of opportunistic AQAP attacks and may allow AQAP to exploit the power vacuum to project violence beyond Yemen’s borders. However, we assess that AQAP’s overall strategic aim remains to establish an AQ-ruled Emirate in Yemen.