US drones strike again in Yemen, killing 6 AQAP fighters near capital

By Bill Roggio - January 23, 2013 - LWJ

US drones yet again targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in Yemen, this time outside the capital of Sana'a. The strike today is the fourth by the US in Yemen in five days. The US has expanded the drone campaign throughout all of Yemen over the past year.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers attacked a vehicle as it traveled in a rural area outside of Sana'a, according to Reuters. Six AQAP members are said to have been killed in the attack. No senior AQAP fighters are reported to have been killed in today's strike.

US drones have struck AQAP in Sana'a one other time in the past. On Nov. 7, 2012, the remotely piloted attack aircraft killed Adnan al Qadhi, an al Qaeda commander who was involved in the attack on the US Embassy in Sana'a in 2008, along with two fighters. Al Qadhi commanded local AQAP forces in and around the capital at the time of his death.

Today's strike in Sana'a is the fourth in Yemen in five days, and the fifth strike this month. The US launched two strikes in Marib province on Jan. 19 and Jan. 21; two Saudis are reported to have been killed in the Jan. 19 attack. In another strike, on Jan. 22, the US killed four AQAP fighters in a strike on a vehicle in Al Jawf province in northern Yemen.

The US appears to be launching several strikes over a short period of time, followed by weeks in which no strikes occur. Between Dec. 24, 2012 and Jan. 3, 2013, the US conducted five drone strikes in Yemen. But prior to the Dec. 24 strike, the last recorded strike by the US in Yemen took place on Nov. 7, 2012.

Additionally, over the past eight months, the US has begun to target AQAP outside of the traditional strongholds of Abyan and Shabwah provinces in the south. Of the 25 strikes against AQAP since the beginning of June 2012 that have been recorded by The Long War Journal, only four have hit AQAP in Abyan and Shabwah. The other 21 strikes have targeted AQAP operatives in the provinces of Aden, Al Baydah, Al Jawf, Hadramout, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a. Of the 18 strikes that were conducted between January 2012 and the end of May, 10 occurred in Abyan and Shabwah.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/01/us_drones_strike_aga_5.php#ixzz2IsuOupXY

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• US drones strike again in Yemen, kill 6 AQAP fighters near capital (longwarjournal.org)

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US drone strike near Yemeni capital kills AQAP commander, 2 fighters

By Bill Roggio - November 8, 2012 - LWJ

In a strike near the Yemeni capital of Sana'a last night, US drones killed an al Qaeda commander involved in the attack on the US Embassy in Sana'a in 2008, along with two fighters. The strike near Sana'a and the previous one in Saada in northern Yemen indicate that the US is expanding drone operations from the traditional hunting grounds in the south.
The unmanned Predators or Reapers fired missiles at a vehicle traveling near Sana'a late last night. The exact location of the strike is in dispute; Xinhua reported that the airstrike took place near the village of Sayyan, about 25 miles outside of Sana'a, while AFP claimed the attack occurred near the village of Beit al Ahmar, about nine miles from the capital.
One Yemeni official described the attack as "a Yemeni-U.S. joint airstrike operation," while another said that "the raid was not carried out by any Yemeni warplane," Xinhua reported.
The strike was certainly carried out by the US-operated Predators or Reapers. US military and intelligence officials have repeatedly told The Long War Journal that the Yemeni air force does not have the ability to hit moving targets in a nighttime strike. And in early October, Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi admitted that the nighttime strikes were carried out by the US "because the Yemeni Air Force cannot carry out missions at night."
Adnan al Qadhi, an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander who operates in Sana'a, and two of his bodyguards, Rabiee Lahib and Radwan al Hashidi, were confirmed to have been killed in the strike, Yemeni officials said. Al Qadhi's family told Abdul Razzaq al Jamal, a Yemeni journalist who is closely linked to AQAP, that Qadhi and the two bodyguards were killed in the airstrike.
Al Qadhi is "a former jihadist fighter in Afghanistan and al Qaeda member" who is wanted for the Sept. 17, 2008 complex attack on the US Embassy in Sana'a, according to AFP. More than 16 people were killed after terrorists detonated multiple bombs and then launched a ground attack in an attempt to breach the compound. Al Qaeda also deployed snipers dressed in Yemeni military uniforms during the attack.
Last night's strike is the first recorded in Sana'a since the US stepped up air and missile attacks against terrorist operatives in 2009. The US is expanding its use of drones against AQAP in Yemen; prior strikes have focused on the network in southern Yemen. But the previous strike, on Oct. 28, took place in Saada in northern Yemen. Four AQAP fighters, including two Saudis, were killed in the attack that targeted a compound of a wanted al Qaeda commander.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/11/us_drone_strike_near.php#ixzz2Bg4vRCC8

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Yemen security forces foil plot to carry out 10 suicide bombings in Sana’a

Yemeni security forces have foiled a plot to carry out 10 suicide bombings against government buildings in the capital Sana’a, the defense ministry’s news website reported on Monday.

A wave of arrests targeting a suspected al-Qaeda cell held responsible for a May attack that killed more than 100 soldiers in the capital netted the 10 militants charged with carrying out the bombings, the 26sep.net website quoted “informed sources” as saying.

The arrests “foiled 10 terrorist suicide bombings in the capital Sana’a which the group was planning to carry out against several government facilities,” it reported, according to AFP.

Security services have also found the last testament of the May 21 bomber, who was less than 18 years old, 26sep.net added.

National security chief Ali Mohammed al-Ansi said in comments published by the ministry’s 26 September newspaper on Thursday that the security forces had made multiple arrests.

They followed the announcement on June 20 of the arrest of Majed al-Qulaisi, a suspected member of the cell that planned the May attack against troops rehearsing for a military parade.

Ansi vowed to continue the “hunt” for al-Qaeda fighters, saying security forces have carried out a “series of operations against al-Qaeda terrorists” across Yemen.

Last month, Yemeni troops recaptured a string of al-Qaeda bastions across the troubled south and east where the militants had seized control last year.

Separately, Yemen’s state news agency SABA reported that Saudi Arabia plans to reopen its embassy in Sana’a, which was closed after the kidnapping of Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi Arabia’ deputy consul in the Yemeni port city of Aden. SABA cited a telephone call between King Abdullah and Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Sunday night in which the Saudi king reportedly said he would soon order the opening of the embassy in the Yemeni capital, according to Reuters.

The United States and its Gulf Arab allies have watched with mounting alarm as Islamist fighters, emboldened by political instability in Yemen, went on a rampage in the south of the country.

Hundreds of militants have been on the run since U.S.-backed Yemeni forces drove them out of towns and cities they had seized last year.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is seen by U.S. officials as the most dangerous offshoot of the global militant network.

By Al Arabiya with Agencies
Monday, 02 July 2012

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Car bomb blast kills 12 in northern Yemen

A suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden car killed at least 12 people and injured many more 

Sana'a: A suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden car killed at least 12 people and injured many more on Friday in Shia-held province of Jawaf, northern Yemen, hours after another suicide bomber failed to reach a Shiite protest in the same province, ministry of defense said.

The news website of the ministry reported that a woman and child were among the dead as the suicide bomber targeted a rally of Shiite rebels in the province bomber.

Earlier on Friday, a man wearing IED belt killed himself after failing to detonate himself inside the same protest, Huthi a rebels who control many province in the north of the country said.

In statement, the rebels said that a brainwashed suicide bomber sent by the US and Israel blew himself up in protest in order to stop them protesting against the "policies of injustice and tyranny."

The rebels protests was part of nation-wide protests that forced the former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave office in November last year.

from GulfNews
By Saeed Al Batati, Correspondent

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US drone strikes kill 5 AQAP fighters, 1 civilian in southern Yemen

by Bill Roggio - March 30, 2012 - LWJ

Unmanned US strike aircraft killed five Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a pair of strikes in a province in southern Yemen known to serve as a haven for the terror group.

The first strike targeted a vehicle as it was traveling in the city of Azzan in Shabwa province. Four AQAP fighters were killed and three were "critically wounded," Yemeni officials told The Associated Press. Reuters reported that five AQAP fighters and one civilian were killed.

The vehicle is said to have been transporting senior AQAP leaders who had left a mosque in Azzan after Friday prayers, but the identity of those killed has not been disclosed.

In the second strike, the unmanned Predators or Reapers fired missiles at a building in Azzan that is thought to be used by AQAP. Four civilians were said to have been wounded in the strike.

Azzan is one of several cities and towns in southern Yemen that are under the control of AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Shariah. AQAP took control of Azzan in early June 2011, after seizing Zinjibar, the provincial capital of neighboring Abyan province. The cities of Al Koud, Ja'ar, and Shaqra are currently run by AQAP. The terror group also seized control of Rada'a in Al Baydah in January but later withdrew after negotiating a peace agreement with the local government.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/03/us_drone_strikes_kil.php#ixzz1qeGF2VQa
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AQAP top leader might have been killed in the US drone attack 

By Nasser Arrabyee,30/03/2012

Four Al Qaeda operatives were killed in a US drone attack on a vehicle moving between two Al Qaeda strongholds in the southern province of Shabwa, said sources in AlQaeda-controlled  hospital late Friday.

"Only four dead bodies arrived here the hospital of Azzan, " the sources said.
" It is very difficult who these bodies are, they are very black."

Other sources said the top leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAQ), Nasser Al Wahaishi, and Saad Bin Atef, and a Syrian expert on making bombs and explosives, were among those who were in the car.

Meanwhile, armed tribesmen loyal to the Islamist party, Islah, are preparing to control the international airport of the Yemeni capital Sana'a, said local sources Friday.

The militants of Islah, in cooperation with Al Qaeda fighters    in Arhab area, about 30 km north of Sanaa,started early Friday  to attack the 63 brigade (republican guards) with heavy, medium and small size weapons, said the local source from Arhab,

Four armed vehicles  with dozens of militants are positioning now in the area of Asda,about 500 meters away from the 63 brigade, in addition to  similar other positions from two directions of  Assama  mountain which overlooks the airport, the sources said.

Related articles

• US drone strikes kills 5 AQAP fighters in southern Yemen (longwarjournal.org)
• AQAP top leader might have been killed in the US drone attack (http://narrabyee-e.blogspot.com)

• U.S. drones raid al-Qaida militants in southeast Yemen, 7 terrorists killed (news.xinhuanet.com)

   

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