Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Between three and eight Al Qaeda militants were killed and others were wounded in a reported US drone strike near the village of Hosoon, close to the city of Marib on the 12th of May, 2012. The attack came just 30 minutes after another airstrike (USYEM077-B) in the east of Wadi Harib district, close to Shabwa, according to local security officials quoted by CNN. Al-Masdar Online also quoted local sources who indicated that the two strikes were linked, and stated that the attack near the village of Hosoon was carried out against two cars which had escaped the earlier strike, close to Shabwa. Overall, sources reported that up to 13 militants were killed between the two incidents (USYEM076-B and USYEM077-B).
Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on the strike near Hosoon village with reference to the Agence France Presse (AFP). AFP quoted a local tribal leader who said that “an American drone fired two missiles at two vehicles, killing five Al Qaeda members.” Reports on the number of people killed in the strike vary. Al-Masdar Online stated that the strike hit “two cars in the all-Hasoon area in Marib, killing three”, whilst Xinhua quoted a security official who said that “a US drone strike hit another Al Qaeda convoy in the Husoon area in Marib, killing at least eight Al Qaeda fighters.” However, many other news sources, including CBS and ABC News, stated the number of militants killed in the attack to be five. Mareb Press was the only source to mention wounded militants, reporting that “others” were wounded in addition to the two militants killed. According to Mareb Press, the vehicles in the convoy were “two Vitara and Shas”.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism later referred to the specific names of those killed in the drone strike, quoting information released by the Yemen Ministry of Information. The four men were listed as: Mohsen Abdul-Rahman Al-Youssefi, Saleh Mohammed Jaber Shabwani, Abu Mutib Al-Yamani and Abu Laith Al-Hadrami. Additionally, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism added that in October of 2012, AQAP identified two other men killed in the strike as Abu Mohammed al Shihiri and Abu Abdullah al Sanaani.
This drone strike came as Yemeni armed forces were “preparing to launch mass attacks” on Al Qaeda positions across the province of Abyan, according to Xinhua. Reuters also quoted a Yemeni military official who said that “A force of about 20,000 men is taking part in this offensive, ordered by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to free the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar.”
The incident occured at approximately 8:30 pm local time.
Summary
Sources (20) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that two vehicles were targeted near the village or town of Hosoon (حصون آل جلال), outside the city of Ma’rib (مَأْرِب). The coordinates for the town of Hosoon (or Husun Al Jalal) (حصون آل جلال) are: 15.471902, 45.368278. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.