(Previous Incident Codes: YEM143C USYEM166 )

On December 10th 2013, eight alleged Al Qaeda fighters were reportedly killed in a US drone or Yemeni air strike in the Wadi Malaha area of Ahwar district. The strike occured in the morning.

Two vehicles were hit in the strike, allegedly burning and killing all occupants; this intel came from a soldier in Brigade 111 quoted by the Yemen Times. According to the source, at least two of those killed are alleged to have been Al Qaeda spies within Brigade 115.

Abyan’s security chief referred to the others killed as fellow Al Qaeda members, telling Yemen Times: ‘The armed men targeted in the last strike were [among] the most dangerous ones in the governorate.’ The exact identities of those killed was undisclosed.

Officials and soldiers in the Ahwar area of Abyan told Yemen Times that the strike was carried out by a drone, and the US was the only military with drone capabilities during this time. A Bureau of Investigative Journalism source in Sanaa contradicted suggestions this was a drone strike, saying it was a Yemeni Air Force attack.