In an al Qaeda controlled part of Yemen, American predator drones struck hard at the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula jihadis killing five in the latest round of strikes.
As I just mentioned the other day, Yemen appears now to be the target of our predator drones and the Taliban and al Qaeda of Pakistan are reaping the luxury of that shift in focus.
The story comes from The Long War Journal.
US Predators strike again in southern Yemen
US drones killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a strike today in an area that is currently under the terror group's control.
The unmanned and heavily armed Predators or the more deadly Reapers targeted an AQAP vehicle as it was traveling near the town of Karma in the Azzan district in Shabwa province, according to The Yemen Post. Five AQAP fighters, but no senior leaders, are said to have been killed in the strike.
Azzan is one of several cities under AQAP control. The city was one of the first to fall to AQAP in early June 2011 after the terror group seized control of Zinjibar in neighboring Abyan province in late May 2011.
The family of slain AQAP ideologue and operational commander Anwar al Awlaki is from Azzan. Anwar's son, Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, was killed in October 2011 in Azzan. One month earlier, Anwar al Awlaki had been killed in a drone strike in Al Jawf province.
The US has carried out four drone strikes in Azzan. The two other strikes took place on March 30 this year, when drones targeted a vehicle and a compound in separate attacks that killed nine AQAP fighters and one civilian.
US strikes in Yemen
The US has carried out at least four airstrikes in Yemen this month; the last strike took place on April 14 in Baydah province. The US launched at least six strikes against AQAP in Yemen in March.
The CIA and the US military's Joint Special Operations Command are known to have carried out at least 27 air and missile strikes inside Yemen since December 2009, including today's strike in Azzan. Other recent airstrikes are believed to have been carried out by the US also, but little evidence has emerged to directly link the attacks to the US.
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