(Previous Incident Code: YEM196 )

Four or five alleged AQAP members were killed in a US drone strike. It hit a vehicle near Mukalla, the capital of the eastern province of Hadramout.

None of the dead were named though a provincial official said “a local al Qaeda chief” was among the dead.

Residents, and local and security officials said US drones carried out the attack. It hit a moving vehicle at night in a region the US has targeted frequently this year – supporting the assertion it was a drone strike.

The attack reportedly destroyed the vehicle inside the former headquarters of the Yemeni army’s 27th Brigade. The soldiers abandoned the position in April. AQAP took control of the facility that month as it swept across Hadramout.

AQAP has reportedly taken advantage of chaos and civil war across Yemen to establish itself as the de facto authority in the province, in place of the crumbling central government.

Type of attack: Air strike – US drone strike