(Previous Incident Codes: YEM026USYEM029)

Dozens of Al Qaeda linked militants were killed and injured during an alleged airstrike conducted by the Yemeni armed forces targeting the al-Razi hospital in Jaar on September 5th, 2011. Up to two civilians may have been killed in this attack.

AFP quoted a medical official in Al-Razi hospital in Jaar, who confirmed the toll from the previous strike on the Mosque (USYEM032-C), and witnesses said that another raid struck the hospital, wounding two more people, without specifying if they were militants or civilians.

The National reported that the occupation of the hospital by militants had been ongoing for 2 months and local Mr Abdulhabib claimed that doctors only treat militants. He further told the National:” The hospital has been heavily damaged in three strikes. Dozens of militants have been killed and wounded”.

Mnyc reiterated these claims reporting that “dozens of Al Qaeda operatives who were inside were killed, according to statements by the Yemeni government”.

YMN added that the airstrikes hit the backyard of the hospital in which the refrigerator for the dead was located, and further hit the outpatient building at the front of the hospital whilst the third strike hit the centre of the building, the reception hall. Aljaml reported that not only the hospital was destroyed but a number of houses near the hospital were also destroyed.

While Amnesty International, along with other sources, reported the strike was carried out by the Yemen Air Force, the NGO said it ‘cannot exclude the possibility that some of the air strikes documented in this report may have been carried out by US drones’.