Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed and three were injured in an alleged US drone strike which hit a vehicle in Manaseh in al-Bayda province on December 24th, 2012 at 5pm. No civilian harm has been reported.
According to Reuters, AFP, and AP, two Al Qaeda militants were killed when a drone strike hit their vehicle. There were mixed reports about the identity of both victims. The first person killed was Abdel-Raoud Naseeb, a mid-level Al Qaeda operative who narrowly escaped the first recorded American drone strike in Yemen on November 3rd, 2002. His death was confirmed by his family to Reuters and AP. Naseeb had fled southern Lawdar wherein a US-backed military offensive was taking place earlier in 2012. However, AFP claimed the the militant was Abdullah Hussein al-Waeli, an Al Qaeda member from the province of Marib, who escaped prison two years prior.
Locals speaking to Reuters reported that the second victim was Jordanian. Xinhua reported that he was a Syrian national. @ali_alshami on Twitter claimed that his name was Nasser al-Sanea but no other sources corroborated this. Overall, tribal sources and news outlets reported three militants were injured in the strike with no further details.
The drone strike was allegedly an American Predator drone according to the Long War Journal. It was the first recorded US drone strike in seven weeks.
The incident occured at approximately 5:00 pm local time.
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention that the strike targeted a vehicle near or in the village of Manaseh (المناسح) near the town Radda/Rada’a (رداع), in the Bayda’ province. The coordinates for the village of Manaseh (المناسح) are: 14.579762, 44.750219. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.