Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On 23rd April 2012, at 10:30 am, the Yemen army and/or US military allegedly conducted a strike in Loder, Abyan province killing between four to 17 suspected AQAP militants, with some sources attributing the militant deaths to artillery bombardment. There are currently no known reports of civilian harm.
Bikyamasr reported that the strike was carried out by Yemeni forces and some sources speaking to the media house said four militants were killed while others claimed that “at least 17 militants were killed”. Local sources corroborated AFP reporting that a Yemeni fighter plane bombed a vehicle, killing four. Reuters added that two suspected Al Qaeda hideouts were also struck in Loder and that residents saw militants carrying their dead comrades toward the village of Umm Ayn for burial.
Nashwan News identified the strike as being carried out at 10:30 in the morning on “Lasof” mountain, outside the city, killing “dozens” of militants. @AlArab_Qatar tweeted that three Somalis were among the militants killed, attributing their deaths to artillery bombardment.
Many sources identified Yemeni air forces as the perpetrator of the strike. However, one source reported that the Yemen Air Force did not having the capability to carry out this kind of precision strike. Other reports confirmed this saying that the air force “lacks the technical ability to carry out precision strikes on moving vehicles.”
The incident occured at 10:30:00 local time.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that a vehicle was targeted near the town of Lawdar (لودر) in the governorate Abyan (أبين). The generic coordinates for the town of Lawdar (لودر) are: 13.88149, 45.868922. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.