3 Al-Qaeda militants killed in US air strike in Shabwa
English - Sunday 14 November 2021 الساعة 03:53 pm
NewsYemen, AFP:
Three people were killed, including two gunmen believed to belong to the extremist Al-Qaeda organization, in an air strike, in central Yemen, on Sunday, carried out by a drone believed to be American, two government officials told AFP.
A security official in the legitimate government forces said, "A drone believed to be an American targeted a car carrying a man who was likely to belong to al-Qaeda, along with his wife, injuring them."
He added that "three people, a civilian and two gunmen, who are believed to belong to al-Qaeda, came in an ambulance to treat the wounded, but their car was hit by a drone, which led to their death."
Another government official in the border area between the governorates of Shabwa and Al-Bayda (central), where the incident occurred, confirmed that the civilian who was killed and who was accompanied by the gunmen belonged to a local tribe.
Al-Qaeda militants have been spreading in Yemen for more than two decades, and they have taken advantage of the chaos caused by the war between the recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi militias to try to consolidate their positions in recent years, especially in the south and center of the impoverished country.
Washington considers "Al-Qaeda Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula" the most dangerous branch of Al-Qaeda in the world, and has always expressed its concern about the consolidation of its influence, taking advantage of the chaos resulting from the armed conflict, and fears of attacks by Al-Qaeda on American soil.
This organization claimed attacks in the United States and Europe, especially the attack on the French satirical weekly "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris in 2015, which killed 12 people, in addition to a shooting that killed three people in 2019 at a US military base in Florida.
However, the organization's attacks have declined significantly in the last period, after intense US strikes by drones, especially during the era of former US President Donald Trump, and operations on the ground.
In February 2020, Trump announced that the United States had "succeeded in eliminating Qassem al-Rimi, one of the founders and leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," and was succeeded by Khalid bin Omar Batarfi.
