(Previous Incident Code: YEM170 )

The second drone strike in two days reportedly left three children in hospital after destroying a car of alleged AQAP fighters.

The children were reportedly siblings and were injured when the strike targeted a car near their home. Two or three alleged AQAP members were killed.

An anonymous local official told Gulf News: “The car was carrying al Qaeda militants and driving in the a desert area between Mareb and Jawf. The drone launched a rocket when the car reached the village, killing three people and injuring three children.”

The children’s father said: “I swear to God that I have no connection with al Qaida. Why did not the drone target the car when it was in the desert?” The children are a boy aged 12 and two girls aged eight and five. They were treated in a hospital in Mareb province for shrapnel injuries in their legs and pelvis.

An alleged al Qaeda social media propagandist was reportedly killed in the attack. Abd al Aziz al Omari (aka Muslim al Azdi, Abu Omar al Kholani, or Abu Muslim al Kholani), a Saudi, controlled various social media sites critical of US drone strikes in Yemen, one of which reportedly confirmed his death.

Terrorists launched a rocket attack on the Yemeni embassy on September 27, reportedly in revenge for this drone strike. Ansar al Sharia, a faction of AQAP, claimed the attack on twitter. Fighters from the group fired an anti-tank missile at the embassy, killing and wounding several members of the Yemeni security forces.

The attack was reportedly carried out by US drones. The attack would appear to have been beyond the ability of the Yemen Air Force which lacks the capacity to launch precision strikes at night – the strike hit in the evening of September 26 and hit a moving vehicle