(Previous Incident Code: YEMT192)

Four alleged AQAP militants were reportedly killed by a US drone strike in Wadi Obeidah, Marib governorate, overnight from May 6th-7th 2019.

On May 15th 2019, US Central Command told New America that no strikes had taken place since March 29th, and explicitly denying reports of a May 5th US military strike, which may refer to this event. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Multiple missiles reportedly targeted a small passenger bus or truck, passing between the Al-Ramsa and Al-Hazma areas, according to local-language news outlets, including 7Hadramout, Al-Ain, and Shabwa Press. Sources indicated to AFP and others that the vehicle was heading to a farm in the governorate. A security source told Al-Ain that there were successive explosions from the scene, indicating that the bus may have been transporting weapons and ammunition.

Most claimed that the strike took place on May 7th. One source, Maeen Press, instead suggested a time late on the evening of May 6th. Indeed, the earliest identified tweet relating to this event was at 12.26am local time on May 7th. As such, Airwars has assessed that the strike took place at some time overnight from March 6th to March 7th.

On May 8th, an AQAP feed claimed that a militant named Habib Al-Jadawi was killed by a “Crusader” drone strike, likely referring to a recent strike, according to Dr Elisabeth Kendall (@Dr_E_Kendall). Given that this was the only known reported US strike since mid-April, it is possible that Al-Jadawi was one of those allegedly killed in this event.

Despite CENTCOM’s denial, this event may have been either a CIA or Saudi-led Coalition action.