Up to four militants were killed in alleged Yemeni or US airstrikes in Mount Khanfar on April 18, 2012 according to local sources. However, Xinhua reported that there were no casualties.

Dawn News reported that a second air raid hit another position held by militants, but did not provide any further details. Alhawyah quoted a Yemeni military source who said that “warplanes launched air strikes on Al Qaeda sites in the Al-Ain region, and that the raids resulted in the death and injury of dozens of Al Qaeda members, in addition to destroying three armored vehicles and damaging two Al Qaeda personnel.” However, it is unclear whether this refers to the incident near Mount Khanfar or airstrikes in Loder on the same evening.

Dawn News also pointed out that the statement from the Yemeni military did not specify whether the air raids were carried out by the Yemeni government or US drones.

A tweet from @southernissue identified airstrikes as occurring in Mount Khanfar. Yafa News also mentioned that airstrikes hit sites in the Amin Triangle and in the mountains surrounding Baluder, causing damage to military equipment and vehicles. Local residents told Xinhua that two further air strikes targeting militant positions on Jabal Khanfar, a hill over looking the city of Ja’ar in Abyan province, and Xinhua attributed the airstrikes to the Yemeni military.

This incident was the second strike of the day (USYEM062-C).

The local time of the incident is unknown.