Between five and 10 militants, reportedly members of Al Qaeda, were killed and seven more were wounded in a US strike or strikes on Arqoub, east of Zinjibar on October 5, 2011, sources said. There are currently no known reports of civilian harm.

The strike reportedly targeted alleged militant hideouts in al Arqoub, east of Zinjibar, the embattled provincial capital of Abyan in southern Yemen. Officials told the Associated Press that the strike killed five militants and injured seven.

The Long War Journal stated that the exact target of the strikes was not disclosed, and no “senior Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders have been reported killed”.

According to the New York Times, “A strike by an American drone on Wednesday [Oct 5th] killed five militants connected with Al Qaeda in southern Yemen, officials said. A Yemeni official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comply with military rules, said the drone attacked militant hide-outs in an area east of the city of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan Province”.

The Yemen Observer said “the drone strike in Abyan killed five and injured seven”. The highest casualty count was provided by @abyanboard, which reported that 10 Yemeni militants were killed.

All of the sources reported that the United States was responsible for the drone strike.

The incident occured around dawn.