Eight drone strikes on suspected al-Qaeda targets carried out in past two weeks
By Adam Baron
The Irish Times
The Irish Times
A US air force MQ-1 Predator drone. Yemeni officials said at least seven Saudi Arabian militants were among those killed in the three strikes in the country on Thursday. Photograph: Reuters/US air force
The US has stepped up the intensity of its drone strikes on suspected al-Qaeda targets in Yemen, carrying out eight strikes in two weeks in response to fears of a terror attack in the capital, Sana’a.
Yemeni officials said at least seven Saudi Arabian militants were among those killed in the three strikes on Thursday, as the country was celebrating Eid at the end of Ramadan.
Since July 27th, drone attacks have killed 34 suspected militants, according to an Associated Press tally.
Washington has closed several diplomatic posts in the Middle East and Africa in response to intercepted information, and the US and Britain also evacuated diplomatic staff from Sana’a.
The first in the latest wave of drone strikes occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning in the Wadi Abeeda area of the central province of Marib. Six people, who locals said were al-Qaeda militants, were killed.
Wadi Abeeda, simmering with anti-government sentiment and, despite its proximity to the provincial capital, largely bereft of any meaningful government presence, has long been used as a refuge by militants linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to tallies kept by the New America Foundation think tank.
The area, a smattering of oasis-fed farms surrounded by a harsh, desolate desert, has experienced four drone strikes this year.
“We’re fed up,” said Nasser Muhtam, head of a Mareb-based NGO. “Our houses are shaking and our children are scared during the morning of Eid, when we should be celebrating.”
Hours apart
The second and third strikes occurred in the far-eastern province of Hadramawt hours apart, miles away from each other, east of the provincial capital of Mukalla.
A late afternoon strike killed three, while the day’s final attack killed three others roughly 10km to the east about five hours later.
Yemeni officials said the dead were all al-Qaeda-linked militants, but definitive identification was not forthcoming. In the bulk of strikes, the bodies of those killed are burnt beyond recognition.
On Wednesday Yemeni authorities said they had foiled a plot by al-Qaeda to seize Mukalla, a key port and the Yemen’s fifth-largest city, as well as two major oil and gas export terminals. – (Guardian service)
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