Airwars assessment
A US drone strike reportedly targeted alleged AQAP militants’ Vitara vehicle in the ‘Irq Al Shabwan area of Al Wadi district in Marib governorate on 27 October 2020 killing between two and three militants and wounding one, according to local sources. Almawqaea Post noted that a local source had named the militants as being members of the Al Suwari family. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.
Many sources reported that the drone strike totally burned the car, killing two people inside, and critically wounding a third one. However, Aden news agency said that the two killed people belong to the Islah Party “the de facto ruler of the city and its surroundings since late 2015.” Also 7adramout.net said the identity of those killed is unknown.
Multiple news sources reported that the strike was believed to have been carried out by the US, given previous strikes in the area. Most reports referred to two militants being killed, although two sources including Yemen Now News reported that all three were killed. No reports referred to whether the third may have died from his wounds.
The incident likely occurred in the afternoon, given the time media reports started to publish. One of the first news reports, by Adengad.net, stated that a “drone believed to be an American targeted an Al-Qaeda vehicle in the Ma’rib governorate”, citing local sources as saying that the car was carrying Al-Qaeda operatives. Only one source, AlAyyam, said the incident happened in the evening.
The incident occured in the afternoon.
Summary
Sources (29) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in Irq Al Shabwan (عرق آل شبوان), west of the Ma’rib (مأرب) city, for which the generic coordinates are: 15.51479, 45.37014. This location is confirmed in a tweet by @CarvajalF. However, due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.