(Previous Incident Codes: YEM120 USYEM136 )

On January 20th 2013, three suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed when an alleged US drone strike hit a car in Al Kanais, a deserted area in Ma’rib near the border with the al-Jawf province. The strike was carried out in the afternoon. There are currently no known reports of civilian harm.

Ali al Ghulaisi, spokesman of the Ma’rib governor, told Yemen Observer that three militants were killed by a drone strike but their identities were not known yet.

In February 2014, the Associated Press published an article claiming that Al Qaeda member Bandar al Hassani was killed in a US drone strike on January 20, 2013. Bandar’s sister Abeer, 25 years old, spoke to the news agency about her brother. In 2004, Bandar was reportedly detained and held for two years by the Yemeni security services. Indoctrinated by fellow prisoners, he “became more religious” on his release. While he increasingly associated with Al Qaeda members, Yemeni security services reportedly “harassed him, trying to turn him into an informant.” When popular protests broke out in Yemen in 2011, Bandar moved to Ma’rib to join Al Qaeda, Abeer said.