In a third strike on May 27th 2012 in the Abyan province, a pick-up truck was reportedly destroyed in Harur near Jaar. Six alleged Al Qaeda militants were killed whilst travelling in the car, and there were no survivors, as reported by Xinhua. Yemeni airplanes were named as the suspected culprit. However, reporting during the time indicates that only the US had the capability to carry out precision strikes on moving vehicles.

According to reports from Xinhua, military warplanes continued to hover over Jaar after the strikes, and civillian’s proximity to the bomings intensified fear that the strikes “may kill civilians like what happened earlier this month.”

The strikes took place as Yemen-based Al Qaeda militants, known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), were reportedly seeking to broaden their influence in Southern Yemen where central authority was lacking.

While there is no direct mention of US involvement by local sources, the incident fits a pattern of previous US actions through airstrikes and drone strikes and it is known that US forces were active in Yemen at the time of the incident. The Yemen Air Force reportedly lacked the ability to launch precision strikes on moving vehicles, which casts doubt on whether the airstrikes were carried out by Yemen rather than US forces.

The local time of the incident is unknown.