(Previous Incident Codes: YEM053USYEM060)

Between eight to 17 Al Qaeda militants were killed and five others were injured in an alleged Yemeni or US air strike in the southeastern province of Abyan on the outskirts of the town of Lawdar, on the 21st of April 2012 in the evening. There have been no reports of civilian harm.

Yemen’s Defense Ministry claimed that 17 alleged Al-Qaeda militants were killed in a house hosting a gathering near Lawder.

However, an official told Xinhua that the attack was undertaken by two fighter jets who killed 12 and injured five alleged militants.

The Yemen Defense Ministry announced that 17 suspected militants were killed in a hideout and witnesses added that three were killed when a vehicle caught fire on a road in Samda located between Jouf and Marib due to a missile strike. They added that others were injured in the vehicle. KUNA counted the destruction of three vehicles.

The Yemen Post reports that the attack killed 11 and destroyed military vehicles. The lowest casualty estimate was provided by @MayaSlman, who tweeted that eight Al Qaeda members were killed.

While multiple sources refer to Yemen officials announcing that their air force carried out the strikes, it is unclear whether the airstrikes were carried out by Yemen or by US drones as AFP notes. As Wikileaks from this time period reveal, in some cases the Yemeni government was instructed to take credit for airstrikes carried out by the US.