Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 31. A US drone strike in southern Yemen on Jan. 31 killed Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) sharia official. He did not claim responsibility for the operation, but another senior AQAP official subsequently did. AQAP confirms that Nadhari worked for its sharia committee, and says that three other fighters were killed in the drone strike. Al Qaeda had consistently elevated Harith al Nadhari’s media profile, meaning he was considered a key ideologue for the global organization.