Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

USYEMTr075

Incident date

April 16, 2017

Location

مديرية مودية, Mudiyah District, Abyan, Yemen

Geolocation

13.904075, 46.233215 Note: The accuracy of this location is to District level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants in Qarn Amarim village, Mudiyah district of Abyan governorate, on the evening of April 16th 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Some social media sources reported (for example @Demolinari) that a strike had taken place against militants travelling in a car in Mudiyah, though one instead suggested that the strike targeted a gathering of AQAP members. Abyan Now tweeted an image of a destroyed vehicle.

According to Erem News, “anti-terrorist forces” associated with the Yemeni government said that AQAP leaders were killed in the US strike against their car. As such, Airwars has assessed the minimum alleged number of dead belligerents as two.

The incident occured in the evening.

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in the vicinity of Qarn Amarim (قرن أمارم) village, east of Mudiyah (مودية) town. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Mudiyah district (مديرية مودية) are: 13.904075, 46.233215.

  • Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in the vicinity of Qarn Amarim (قرن أمارم) village, east of Mudiyah (مودية) town.

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • 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 (12) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants, possibly leaders, travelling in a car in Mudiyah on April 16th 2017 (@AbyanNewsNow, April 16th 2017)

US Forces Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • 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 (12) [ collapse]