The US killed two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a drone strike in Yemen yesterday. The strike, which reportedly killed a Saudi jihadist, is the first in Yemen more than three weeks.
The US-operated, unmanned Predators or Reapers fired several missiles at a vehicle traveling in the Qahb Al Hisan area between Marib and Hadramout provinces, Yemeni officials said, according to The Yemen Post. A second car traveling with the one that was hit escaped unscathed.
Yemeni officials claimed that “a Saudi militant named Salim Mubarak al Saiary” was killed in the strike, The Yemen Post reported. Al Saiary is not identified on Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted lists, and his role in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is unknown.
The Associated Press confirmed the strike, and also said that two people were killed in the blast. Their identities were not disclosed.
US strikes in Yemen
Today strike is the fourth recorded in Yemen this month, and the first in three weeks. On Aug. 7, the US carried out two strikes in Yemen. Yemeni officials said that Abdullah Awad al Masri, a wanted bombmaker who is also known as Abou Osama al Maribi, was killed in one of the strikes that also killed two Egyptians, a Tunisian, a Saudi, and a Bahraini. And on Aug. 4, the US conducted an airstrike in Hadramout province.
The US is known to have carried out 29 airstrikes against AQAP in Yemen so far this year; one in January, six in March, six more in April, nine in May, two in June, one in July, and at least four this month. Other recent airstrikes are believed to have been carried out by the US also, but little evidence has emerged to directly link the attacks to the US.
Since December 2009, the CIA and the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command are known to have conducted at least 44 air and missile strikes inside Yemen, including today’s strikes.
The pace of the US airstrikes increased as AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia, took over vast areas of southern Yemen starting at the end of May 2011. AQAP seized control of the cities and towns of Zinjibar, Al Koud, Jaar, and Shaqra in Abyan province, and Azzan in Shabwa province.
In May of this year, the Yemeni military launched an offensive to retake the cities and towns held by AQAP. Hundreds of AQAP fighters, Yemeni soldiers, and civilians have been reported killed during fighting that liberated Zinjibar, Jaar, Shaqra, and Azzan.
Since the beginning of May 2011, the US is known to have carried out 39 airstrikes in Yemen. This year, the US appears to be targeting both AQAP leaders and foot soldiers in an effort to support Yemeni military operations against the terror group. AQAP had taken control of vast areas in southern Yemen and had been expanding operations against the government, with raids on military bases in locations previously thought to be outside the terror group’s control.
Three senior AQAP operatives have been killed in the 29 strikes so far this year. The most recent strike that killed a senior AQAP leader took place on May 6, when the US killed Fahd al Quso in a drone attack in Shabwa province. Quso, who has been described as AQAP’s external operations chief, was involved in numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 US sailors. The US obtained the information leading to Quso from a Saudi operative who had penetrated AQAP.
On Jan. 31, US drones killed Abdul Mun’im Salim al Fatahani near the city of Lawdar in Abyan province. Fatahani was also involved in the suicide attack on the USS Cole, as well as the bombing that damaged the Limburg oil tanker in 2002. AQAP said that Fatahani had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US also killed Mohammed Saeed al Umda (a.k.a. Ghareeb al Taizi) in an April 22 drone strike on a convoy in the Al Samadah area of Marib province. Prior to the downfall of the Taliban regime in 2001, he had attended the Al Farouq military training camp in Afghanistan. Umda served as a member of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard in Afghanistan before returning to Yemen, and was involved in the October 2002 suicide attack on the French oil tanker Limburg. He escaped from a Yemeni jail in 2006.
US intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula poses a direct threat to the homeland. The latest AQAP plot against the West, involving an underwear bomb that is nearly undetectable and was to be detonated on an airliner, was foiled earlier this year. The terror group has planned multiple attacks against targets in the US. A strike in Yemen last year killed both Anwar al Awlaki, the radical, US-born cleric who plotted attacks against the US, and Samir Khan, another American who served as a senior AQAP propagandist.
5 Comments
Its seems that, US drone attack is a successful mission against terrorist and al Qaeda as well. Every terrorist should realize, there is no way to hide themselves.
Melodious sounds of the waves of the sea will destroy your worst-ness.
How many enemies do we have from Saudi?
What do they teach muslims re infidels in that country?
Saudi influence in Pakistan has been disastrous!
OMG!! i love peace.
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When was war declared in Yemen? This is a crime against humanity. These are people who are dying everyday, and what is there crime? The US government SUSPECTS them of being a ‘terrorist’. There is no trial, no sentencing, no formal declaration of war. This is the same, na, worse then Japans ‘Rape of Nanking’ for at lest they declared war on China. We as American, land of the free and home of the brave, should be upset with these actions, humiliated that we have been degraded to barbarians, senselessness killing people for no reason other than SUSPICION of a crime
ALB, I am not sure where you have been for the last 10 years but let me update you. There is a group of people waging war on anyone that does not follow their flawed religious beliefs. These people do not represent nor operate from a country, in fact, they choose to operate from areas with little or no government control. Modern technology allows us to gather intelligence and eliminate these people without declaring war on the countries they operate from therefore saving the lives of many. I suppose we could just leave them be and try to arrest them after they succeed in attacking or, as you suggest, declare war on the whole country they were operating from but in my opinion we are currently using the best available option. Maybe you could take a trip over to Yemen and talk to some of these people and see if they are willing to come in for questioning. It will, at least, give you a better appreciation for our current situation.