In an email to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US Central Command stated that a strike took place against an AQAP “target” on July 1st 2017 in Abyan governorate.  This confirmed earlier reports that at least one US drone strike targeted at least two alleged AQAP militants in the Wadea district of Abyan governorate, on the night of July 1st 2017. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

Several sources including Adengad reported that a US drone strike against a motorcycle in the area killed AQAP leader Ibrahim Al-Adani, also named as Adel Al-Zamki Al-Hasani, and “his companions”. Others suggested that this strike was one of several in Wadea, also targeting an AQAP training camp in the area. Some suggested that strikes instead targeted near Bir Al-Shahata village.

It was unclear whether reported strikes against a vehicle and an AQAP camp were geographically distinct events. Several sources suggested that the camp was situated in the Wadi al-Malh area, which two sources also suggested was the area in which the motorcycle was targeted. One local language Twitter source, local journalist Mareb Alward, suggested that two AQAP militants, including Al-Adani, were killed in a strike against a camp.

According to BBC monitoring of local media however, Al-Masdar reported that the strikes against the camp and the motorcycle occurred in separate areas of Wadea district.

In an email to the Bureau, US Central Command stated that “a precision strike” was conducted against an AQAP target, possibly indicating just one action.

Sources differed on the total number of militant deaths. According to some local language sources, including Aden al-Ghad, local residents reported that two men were killed while riding a motorcycle. AFP and Reuters also reported that, according to a security official, two alleged AQAP militants were killed on a motorbike, one of whom was Ibrahim Al-Adani.

Xinhua, however, reported that three, including Al-Adani, were killed in a remote US strike against a vehicle.  Images published online appeared to show Al-Adani’s body.

One local language Twitter source instead suggested there were “no victims” in strikes against Wadea district and Al-Shatah village, though it was unclear if this included the reported strike against a motorcycle or referred only to strikes on the camp. As such, Airwars has assessed that between two and three alleged militants were reported killed in this event.

The incident occured during the night.

A 2017 US counterterrorism operation in Yemen killed Ibrahim al Asiri, a “senior al-Qa’ida bomb maker and terrorist coordinator”, US President Donald Trump announced on October 10th 2019. This statement confirmed several 2018 reports that al Asiri had likely been killed in a US drone strike in Marib governorate during the second half of 2017.

A July 2018 United Nations report indicated that, according to “some Member States”, al Asiri “may have been killed” in the second half of 2017. Yemeni officials and a tribal leader subsequently confirmed to the Associated Press that al Asiri had been killed by a US drone strike: “a Yemeni security official said that al-Asiri is dead; a tribal leader and an al-Qaida-linked source also said that he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the eastern Yemeni governorate of Marib”, according to the report.

According to the tribal leader, al Asiri was killed alongside “two or four” of his associates, while standing next to his car. “He added that al-Asiri’s wife, who hails from the well-known al-Awaleq tribe in the southern governorate of Shabwa, was briefly held months ago by the UAE-backed forces and later released”.

While multiple officials initially told CNN that they were “weighing evidence” that al Asiri had been killed, senior US officials later told CBS, Reuters and Fox News that they were “confident” of his death. An official told Reuters in August 2018, however, that “the usual fallout from a senior militant being killed, like a eulogy from Yemen’s al Qaeda branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), had not appeared”. Reuters further reported at the time that “separate U.S. intelligence officials said they do not consider the available evidence conclusive”. His death was confirmed by the 2019 White House statement.

Al Asiri is believed to have been behind the “underwear bomb” attempt to down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, which failed, and other foiled aviation-related terror attacks. “Given al Asiri’s past role in plots against aviation, this would represent a serious blow to operational capability,” the United Nations report stated. Other commentators, however, including Gregory D. Johnsen writing in The Atlantic, cast doubt on the level of threat posed by al Asiri.

Given the uncertainty regarding the exact date and location of the strike, Airwars has created this event to cover the six month period in which the strike allegedly occurred. It is possible that al Asiri was killed by one of the other alleged US strikes in Marib tracked elsewhere by Airwars in this period. However, we have been unable to definitively tie his death to any other known events.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

On June 20th 2017, US Central Command announced that US forces had carried out an airstrike that had targeted and killed three AQAP militants in Shabwa governorate on June 16th 2017. This confirmed earlier reports that a US drone strike killed three alleged militants driving in Al Naqba, in the Habban district of Shabwa governorate, on that evening. There were no known associated reports of civilian harm.

While some initial reports suggested that two men were killed in the strike, most reported that, according to local and Yemeni security sources, three had died.  According to US Central Command, the strike killed Abu Khattab al-Awlaqi, the “emir for AQAP’s terrorist stronghold in Shabwah Governorate”, alongside two other militants.

However, according to one Twitter source (@demolinari), local reports suggested that Abu Khattab al-Awlaqi was instead the deputy leader of AQAP in Shabwa. According to this source, Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaqi led AQAP in Shabwa at that time, having survived previous alleged US strikes against him in early March.

@demolinari also named the two others killed in the strike as Mohammed Alawi Al-Bubakri al-Awlaqi and Warad Ali Nasser al-Abdali. Other sources including Yemenat further reported that one of those killed was the brother of Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaqi.

Al Masdar Online reported that the strike took place at 9.30pm, with two missiles fired from a US drone. According to Alkhabar Now, these targeted a car “travelling on a secondary road between… Wadi Yashbam and the Naqabah in Shabwa”.

Xinhua reported that, according to a Yemeni military source, the “strike was launched on specific intelligence inputs provided by the Yemeni anti-terror unit”.

The incident occured at 21:30:00 local time.