Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In a night of battles and strikes on Jaar, Abyan province, a bomb hit a factory on May 27, 2012, reportedly killing several Al Qaeda militants. Of the deceased, up to seven militants were allegedly killed by airstrike whilst up to 15 militants were killed in fights on the ground. Ennahar Online recorded one civilian death, however the cause of death remains unclear. The strikes were reportedly conducted by Yemen forces.
According to Reuters, “the bodies of seven militants were seen on Sunday being carried away from a factory located west of Jaar, which is used by Ansar al-Sharia as a base, after it was attacked by a Yemeni warplane on Saturday night.” AFP, quoted by An-Nahar Online, reported that five Al Qaeda militants, including a field commander named Abdul Rahman al-Muslimi, and one civilian were killed in night battles with aviation supporting the ground forces, without specifying how the militants and civilian were killed.
The factory that was struck was to the west of the city and was allegedly a base used by the Yemen-based Al Qaeda branch, Ansar al Sharia.
The incident occured during the night.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a factory west of the town of Ja’ar (جعار). Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location of this factory. The generic coordinates for the west of the town of Ja’ar (جعار) are: 13.22009, 45.304524.