Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In a dawn attack, a series of missiles from an alleged unmanned airstrike were fired at targets on the outskirts of Jaar, apparently striking Al Qaeda militants on the verge of launching a suicide attack on military targets. The alleged US drone or Yemeni airstrike attack hit a farmhouse in the Wadi Anna bridge area, Northwest of Jaar and 2 kilometers away from a Yemeni military post that belongs to the 119 brigade according to Barakish.
Sources did not report any civilians harmed or killed, yet reports state that between 7 and 9 alleged Al Qaeda members were killed. USA Today reported 7 killed and three injured, Xinhua and Al Jazeera reported 8 killed and six injured. All other reports state that 9 alleged Al Qaeda members were killed. There was no civilian harm reported by local or international sources.
Two of those killed were wearing explosive belts, security sources told Reuters; anonymous officials confirmed to AP that the strikes ‘followed tips from locals of an imminent al-Qaeda attack on the town’. Reuters reported three separate strikes targeted a farmhouse, although ANI/Xinhua claimed the strikes hit two separate gatherings of alleged Al Qaeda militants and AP quoted locals saying they had seen two cars ablaze. An unnamed official and residents claimed the missiles were fired by a US drone, although eyewitnesses told ANI/Xinhua they had seen military planes flying overhead at the time of the attack. The Yemeni Ministry of Defense claimed the attack was carried out by the Yemeni 119th Infantry Brigade, although it is common for the Yemeni government to claim responsibility for attacks carried out by the US on its turf. Reuters also pointed out that local residents had said that the Yemeni troops only arrived at the scene after the air strikes. The New York Times reported that security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the aircraft was American-operated.
Residents told Reuters they had found ‘six charred bodies and the scattered remains of three others’, while AP and others reported ’at least seven’ killed. Several sources named Nader al-Shaddadi, who was said to be a senior Al Qaeda militant, as being killed; Barakish and Aden al Ghad both named Morsel Mohsen Hassan and Kamal Ali Abker as being killed. Barakish also named Adan Ahmed Ali al Sha’ar and Awadh Hamman, adding that four further bodies had not been identified. Aden al Ghad named Abdullah Hussein Yousif Somali, Arfan al Shaher and Mohammed al Shaher. Reuters later said that five of the alleged militants killed were local teenagers from Jaar itself, who used the farmhouse as a typical sleeping cell. Adengad reported that members of the Popular Committees transferred the bodies of the victims to Al-Razi Hospital.
After the attack, there were reports that hundreds of Jaar’s residents, both men and women, gathered in front of the headquarters of the resistance committees in Jaar and fired in the air to celebrate Shadadi’s death. One resident told AFP that Shadadi, a Jaar resident himself, “had brought great harm to our city and he is responsible for all the devastation and the war” in the area.’ Akhbaralyom stated that after the incident, some locals of Jaar ‘looted aid for the poor and displaced families distributed by the Red Cross’.
The incident occured around dawn.
Summary
Sources (35) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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Graphic image of a victim of alleged US or Yemeni airstrikes on October 18, 2012 (Image posted by akhbaralyom-ye.net) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Graphic image of a victim of alleged US or Yemeni airstrikes on October 18, 2012 (Image posted by Adengad)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention that a farm in the northwestern outskirts of the town of Ja’ar (جعار) was targeted, at a few kilometers distance from a military post. Sources also mention the village of Rumaila (الرميلة) and Al Jisr (الجسر), and the Jabal Ain and Wadi Bena/Bina (وادي بناء) areas. Airwars was unable to locate Al Jisr, Jabal Ain and Wadi Bena. However, the coordinates for the village of Rumaila (الرميلة) are: 13.248986, 45.300528.