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Drone strike kills five in al Qaeda stronghold in Yemen

A drone strike killed at least five suspected militants travelling in a car in an al Qaeda stronghold in eastern Yemen overnight, residents said, the latest in a series of attacks by suspected U.S. aircraft.

 

The strike around midnight on Wednesday was the second reported this week in the port city of Mukalla, which was seized by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the deadliest branches of the global militant network, in April.

 

The group has taken advantage of the chaos around a five-month-old war pitting Houthi fighters and forces loyal to Yemen's exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to grab territory and operate more openly.

 

Washington acknowledges targeting militants with drone strikes in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, but does not comment publicly on individual operations.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.27.15, 18:30