(Previous Incident Codes: YEM138 USYEM157 )

A series of confirmed American drone strikes were launched on August 8th, 2013 with three strikes killing a total of twelve. The third strike was launched in the Al Qatn section of Hadramout, reportedly killing at least three Al Qaeda operatives.

The strike that reportedly killed three suspected Al Qaeda operatives in Hadramout included the death of Jamal Abdullah Salah al-Nahdi, the confidant of Aymen al-Zawahiri. Al-Nahdi was described by this official as “a leading Al Qaeda figure on the wanted list since 2007”. The other two bodies could not be properly identified, according to an anonymous Yemeni military official in Mukalla and quoted by the Shuaib Al Mosawa blog.

An unnamed official told CNN one of the three dead was a member of Al Qaeda. Reuters reported three men were killed as they travelled in a vehicle in an area called Ghail Bawazeer. However Yemeni officials told BBC Arabic that four alleged militants were killed in Wadi al Jadd.

It is unclear if the militants killed in this incident were fleeing an earlier drone strike, as reported by Beacon Reader. According to the source, during a drone strike on a vehicle in Al Ayoun that killed two militants, five passengers reportedly fled the scene and were pursued by the drones. Their bodies were found two miles from the wreckage of the pickup truck. However, many of the sources reporting on this incident mention that those killed were also in a vehicle.

US officials confirmed drones carried out the attack, telling NBC News the wave of strikes was in response to intercepted communications suggesting a terrorist attack. The officials said ‘there is no evidence any of those killed could be considered among Al Qaeda leadership’.