Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A US drone strike reportedly targeted the house of an alleged AQAP leader in Al Haq, in the Al-Mahfad district of Abyan governorate, at 11pm on April 2nd 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
According to Aden al-Ghad, local sources reported that the strike destroyed the house of AQAP leader Mohammed Al-Saghi, but that the building appeared to be uninhabited at the time.
One source, Aden Now News, reported that “a senior terrorist of Al-Qaeda” was killed in the strike, leading Airwars to assess the strike as leading to one reported belligerent death.
This reported event took place amid a dramatic intensification of US operations against AQAP, starting in early March 2017. On April 3rd, Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis said that, since February 28th 2017, 70 US airstrikes were conducted in Yemen.
The incident occured at 23:00:00 local time.
Summary
Sources (18) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Haq (الحاق), for which the coordinates are: 14.080933, 46.849723. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
US Forces Assessment:
Original strike reports
The U.S. military conducted airstrikes over eastern Yemen during the weekend, targeting the sites of extremist group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, director of Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters today.
“We continue to target [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] in Yemen, and this is done in the interest of disrupting a terror organization that presents a very significant threat to the United States,” Davis said.
Strikes Target Terrorists
During the weekend in Yemen’s Shabwah governorate, the precision airstrikes targeted al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists, as well as the terrorists’ infrastructure, fighting positions and equipment, the spokesman said.
The airstrikes follow the late-January U.S. raid in Yemen during which a U.S. service member died. From Feb. 28 through last week, some 50 airstrikes were conducted, Davis noted.
The weekend airstrikes, which were largely unmanned, bring the total to 70, he said.