Four Al Qaeda militants were killed by alleged Yemeni or US airstrikes in the southeast of the town of Loder located in the south of Yemen on the 30th of April 2012. No civilian harm was reported.

Reuters reported that the airstrike hit a vehicle which killed four militants inside. Witnesses reported a series of multiple airstrikes.

Locals told Xinhua that the strikes targeted Al Qaeda hideouts. AFP added that a tank and two vehicles loaded with ammunition and machine guns were simultaneously destroyed and that militant positions in the mountains southeast of Loder were hit by the airstrikes, with Nashwan News specifying the location to be Al Qaeda sites in Mount Yusef.

On June 20th, a jihadist website reported that Muhammad Fazi al Harasheh, aka Abu Hammam al Zarqawi, had died in a drone strike on a vehicle. Al Zarqawi was the nephew of former Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, killed by the US in 2006. Initial reports suggested he had been killed by a landmine. Although the precise date of his death is unknown, the April 30th strikes appear to most closely match the description. The Long War Journal reported a militant statement as saying: “They were unable to kill him in the battles, so they sent spies to guide them to him. A drone came to bomb the car in which he and one of the brother were riding, and so his pure soul went to its maker.” With this information, it is unclear whether al Zarqawi was killed in this incident or another incident that occurred on the same day (USYEM071-B), since he was known to operate in Abyan province which Zinjibar and Loder are both a part of. The mention of a drone indicated that the US was involved in the strike.

The local time of the incident is unknown.