Airwars assessment
On February 6th 2022, an alleged US drone strike was reported to have targeted a car with Al-Qaeda members inside, posssibly including a ” suspected leader.” All passengers – reported as Al-Qaeda militants – in the car were reported to have been “killed and wounded”, and civilian casualties were also reported of those “who were near the operation.” Although multiple sources reported that “civilians” were harmed, it is not clear how many were killed and injured as a result of this drone strike, at this stage.
The drone strike targeted the car in the Al Kola area in Wadi Ubayda, in the Mareb governorate of north Yemen.
A tweet from @Islandcorner2 as well as Fromo2g News referenced “civilians who were near the operation” as being victims of the drone strike but did not mention how many.
According to local sources, three Al-Qaeda militants were killed in total. One source, Fromo2g reported that the militants belonged to “Hadi’s forces”, but this was the sole reference. Saras 24 indicated that the military group were “affiliated with Hadi’s forces.”
Local sources referenced that the car was “loaded with ammunition” and that the militants had guns. This caused the care to explode when it was struck by the drone.
Al Youm Al 7 reported that “the aerial bombardment, preceded by hours of flying, led to the burning of the car and the charring of the bodies of those on board” which meant that the identity of the targeted leader could not be understood. Apparently, Al-Qadea militants were deployed into the area after the raid and prevented entry and exit into the area.
According to Akhbar Al Aan news, a US drone was launched from a military base in Dijbouti.
The incident occured around dawn.
Summary
Sources (20) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in the vicinity of Al Kawlah (الكولة) village, in the north east of Wadi Obeida (وادي عبيدة). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Al Kawlah are: 15.54686, 45.41379.