Geolocation
Airwars assessment
An alleged US airstrike that took place on Karadeef in West Zinjibar was reported to have killed five militants and injured two others, with no civilian harm reported, on July 27th 2011.
Xinhua news quoted a local official who said that five AQAP militants, including a field commander, were killed by a US drone strike on Karadeef, in western Zinjibar. Multiple sources corroborated the death of five militants. Akhbar Al-Youm overall reported that on July 27, 2011 “the killing of many militants and the injury of others. In the raid, the young man, “Adel Al-Houtari,” in Wadi Hassan was also killed, and 2 others were wounded.”
AdenHurra and Aden-online added that three of the militants were from Ma’rib and that one was the son of Nasser Al-Marqashi.
Yemenpost and AdenHurra reported the strike took place on Wadi Hassan in Zinjibar, resulting in some confusion over whether the location of the strikes was Wadi Hassan or Karadeef, or they were separate strikes. Aldi Apres added that the alleged strike was one of 12 strikes in the area on the afternoon of July 27th 2011.
Neither the US nor Yemeni officials have taken responsibility for the strike.
The incident occured during the day.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention Karadeef area in Western Zinjibar. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to locate this area. The coordinates for Zinjibar district (مديرية زنجبار) are: 13.135000, 45.430278.