Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USYEMTr072

Incident date

April 8, 2017

Location

الصومعة, Al Suma'a, Al Bayda, Yemen

Geolocation

14.207644, 45.815614 Note: The accuracy of this location is to District level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One usually-reliable Twitter source, @demolinari, indicated that a US drone strike had killed two “suspected” AQAP militants in Al-Sawma’ah district, Bayda governorate, on the afternoon of April 8th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Several sources – for example Yemen Live News – reported that two alleged militants were killed around this time while travelling on a motorbike in the area. Local security sources told AFP that a strike, killing two in the same area, took place in the evening on April 7th. Most sources, though posted on April 8th, did not specify a date. Given this date discrepancy, these sources are accounted for in event USYEMTr071.

This event has been created to account for the possibility that a second strike event occurred on the afternoon of April 8th, though it is also possible that @demolinari’s report constituted late reporting of the earlier strike.

The incident occured in the afternoon.

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck within the Al Sawma’ah district (مديرية الصومعة), for which due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Al Sawma’ah district are: 14.207644, 45.815614.

  • Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck within the Al Sawma’ah district (مديرية الصومعة).

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • Suspected target
    Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2

Sources (7) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

US Forces Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • US Forces position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Single source claim
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    No
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Suspected belligerent
    US Forces
  • Suspected target
    Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2

Sources (7) [ collapse]