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Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: YEMT071)
A US drone strike reportedly killed alleged AQAP militant Khattab al-Wuhayshi and possibly his bodyguard in Mar’taa, in the Suma’a district of Bayda governorate, overnight from April 5th to April 6th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
Multiple sources, including AFP, reported that Khattab al-Wuhayshi was killed while riding a motorbike in the area, and that he was the nephew of AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who was also killed in a US drone strike in June 2015.
According to Xinhua, an anonymous security source indicated that the strike also killed a second AQAP militant, the bodyguard of al-Wuhayshi, though no other sources reported this.
This reported event took place amid a dramatic intensification of US operations against AQAP, beginning in early March 2017. On April 3rd, Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis said that, since February 28th 2017, 70 US airstrikes were conducted in Yemen.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Marta’a (مرتعه), within the Al Sawma’ah district (مديرية الصومعة), for which due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Al Sawma’ah district are: 14.207644, 45.815614.
Reports of the incident mention the village of Marta’a (مرتعه), within the Al Sawma’ah district (مديرية الصومعة).
Imagery: Google Earth