Geolocation
Airwars assessment
US airstrikes killed up to 33 militants, with no civilian harm reported in Abyan province between August 31 2011 to September 1 2011. Multiple sources claimed the militants killed in the alleged airstrike were Al Qaeda militants. Some sources reported the alleged strike was carried out by Yemeni air force warplanes, however others claim it was by US drones.
The alleged airstrikes took place on a Yemeni brigade under siege from AQAP fighters. The Long War Journal posited that the Yemeni military unit involved was the 25th Yemeni Mechanized Brigade.‘The airstrikes freed a Yemeni military unit besieged in southeast Abyan for several weeks,’ Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press.
Reuters Aden reported that the “government forces backed by air force planes killed 17 militants on Wednesday”. It is therefore unclear whether the militants were killed by airstrikes or clashes with Government forces.
However the The Long War journal reported a different account claiming “Yemeni officials claimed that more than 30 Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed during a US airstrike”. Multiple sources corroborated that the number of militants killed in the alleged strike was as high as 30.
Although the US have not claimed responsibility for the strike, the US military provided aerial resupply drops to the encircled forces using US aircraft, reported the Washington Institute.
Reuters reported initially that the Yemeni military suffered no casualties. However, a later report by Reuters stated that three government soldiers died. Seattle Times reported as many as four military officers have been killed as a result of the clashes.
US military officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on airstrikes, but said: ‘We continue to provide counter-terrorism aid, intelligence, and logistical support to Yemeni forces’.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the governorate of Abyan (أبين), for which the generic coordinates are: 13.766164, 46.112811. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.