Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On 4th August 2012, in the late evening, between three to five militants were killed in an alleged U.S. drone strike on a vehicle travelling on the Ghisas road, north of the village of Al-Qatan in Hadramout province. Local news sources such as Mareb Press and Saba News also reported that up to two additional militants were injured in the attack.
The specific identities of those killed in the strike remain unknown, with one notable exception. The Long War Journal quoted jihadist sources who said that Abu al Bara’a al Saya’ari was among the dead and had reportedly been the driver of the car. One independent news source, Nasser Arrabyee, quoted local residents who said that all of those killed in the strike were leading members of Al Qaeda.
One connected source, PressTV, stated that the strike was carried out in Aden. However, due to the specific details of the incident provided in the PressTV report, it is possible that the strike described was in fact the attack carried out near the village of Al-Qatan, and not in Aden. The PressTV report quoted a local official who described a U.S. drone strike conducted against a vehicle in which ”at least five people” were killed, on the same date of the 4th of August, 2012. To account for the discrepancies this incident has been recorded separately (USYEM115-C).
The vehicle destroyed in the drone strike, initially identified as a white land cruiser by several local sources, was hit by two missiles according to a local official quoted in a report by France24. Gulf News reported further details on the strike, stating that the vehicle was “a Toyota pickup” and that burnt bodies were seen scattered after the explosions. According to the BBC, one witness had told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “bodies were flying in all directions because the explosion was so powerful.” One local source: @BaFana3 even stated that following the strike, ambulance staff were unsure exactly how many people had died in the attack due to the sheer level of destruction and the scattering of body parts.
The number of people reported killed in the strike varied according to different sources and media outlets. The majority of reports stated that five militants were killed in the strike, including those released by the Associated Press (AP), the BBC, Mareb Press, Alarabiya, the Long War Journal and France 24. However, Siyas Press, Gulf News and the Yemen Observer placed the number of fatalities at four. Reuters, Saba News and other local sources claimed that only three militants had been killed. Nevertheless, the majority of the sources listed above agreed that the missiles launched in the attack came specifically from a U.S. drone.
A report on the incident by Siyas Press stated that, in the aftermath of the attack, the families of those killed rushed to the strike site to collect remains and prepare them for funerals. However, Mareb Press quoted eyewitnesses who said that “a group of masked gunmen” took four bodies away to an “unknown location.”
One local security official reportedly informed Xinhua that “the air raid occurred in coordination with Yemeni intelligence services after an agent had placed an electronic chip under the targeted car.”
The incident occured in the evening.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that the vehicle (a Toyota pick-up) was targeted near the town or village of Qatn (Qatan/Qotn/Qutan) (قطن) in the Hadhramout (حضرموت) governorate. The coordinates for the town of Qatn (قطن) are: 15.8439922, 48.4583447. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (35) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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Burnt out car which suffered damage from alleged US strike on August 5, 2012. (Image posted by Mareb Press)
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Graphic image of a body in a Burnt out car which suffered damage from alleged US strike on August 5, 2012. (Image posted by Mareb Press)
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Graphic image of a body in a Burnt out car which suffered damage from alleged US strike on August 5, 2012. (Image posted by Mareb Press)