Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A US drone strike reportedly killed at least four alleged AQAP militants in Raghwan district, Marib governorate, on October 8th 2017. The strike was later confirmed by a US Central Command spokesperson in an email to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which stated that five AQAP militants were killed by a strike in the area on that day. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
Several sources, including Associated Press, suggested that, according to local residents and officials, the strike targeted a car near the Saud archaeological area, burning the vehicle and all those inside. Local sources told Al-Masdar Online the same, suggesting that one of those killed was from the Raghwan district.
While most indicated that five were killed in the strike, one Twitter source, @demolinari, suggested that four AQAP militants were killed. According to a Tweet by analyst @JoshuaKoontz, pro-AQAP sources also suggested that four were killed in the strike.
Some sources reported that one of those killed was an AQAP leader in al-Jawf, whom Xinhua named as Mohammed Ammar al-Adani. According to an anonymous provincial security official spoken with by Xinhua, al-Adani had “come from the southern province of Shabwa and had been hiding in a house in Raghwan for more than a month”.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in the vicinity of the Saud (سعود) archaeological are. @Intelyse_Arabia alleges the location to be within the village of Asdas (أسداس), located south west of Saud. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Saud are: 15.809762, 45.109005.
Summary
Sources (19) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (6) [ collapse]
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US Central Command confirmed that a strike in Raghwan district, Marib, killed five alleged AQAP militants on October 8th 2017 (@demolinari, October 8th 2017).
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The strike reportedly killed an AQAP leader, Mohammed Ammar al-Adani, along with four others in a car (@demolinari, October 8th 2017).
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The strike reportedly took place near the Saud archaeological area, Raghwan district of Marib governorate (@Intelyse_Arabia, October 8th 2017)
US Forces Assessment:
Original strike reports
[Email from CENTCOM to Bureau of Investigative Journalism]
Yes. U.S. forces conducted a precision strike against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula near Marib, Yemen, killing five Al Qaeda terrorists on Oct. 8.
In coordination with the government of Yemen, U.S. forces are conducting a series of sustained counterterrorism operations in Yemen against AQAP to degrade the group's ability to hold territory and coordinate external terror attacks.
CENTCOM Media Desk