(Previous Incident Code: YEM290)

A US strike in Bayda governorate killed two AQAP militants on November 19th 2017, a US Central Command spokesperson told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. This confirmed local reports that a US drone strike had killed at least three alleged AQAP militants in Yakla, in the Wald Rabi area of Bayda governorate, on that evening. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Multiple local-language sources, including Adengad and @tarebhtoday, reported that, according to locals, the strike targeted an area “near an ISIS camp” in the area, though none suggested that ISIS members had been killed. Others, such as Hour News, suggested that the area was itself home to an AQAP “site”. Both terror organisations had previously been targeted in the area.

While most suggested that three were killed in the strike, @7adramout_net reported that four “from Al Qaeda” had died. Another Twitter source, @demolinari, named one of those killed as Abdullah Hassan Abdullah Nuba Al-Ateeqi.