US launches 17 air strikes against Al Qaeda in Yemen

Air strikes took place in Al Bayda, Hadramawt, Zamakh and Shabwah governorates

Yemeni men and security forces inspect the site of a suicide bombing in the southern port city of Aden, on November 5, 2017.
Al-Qaeda suspects carried out twin suicide bombings and took hostages, officials said, as they struck at the heart of the Yemeni government after suffering a string of setbacks. The apparently coordinated attacks spell an abrupt end to a period of relative calm that has reigned in Aden, where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based since it was driven out of the capital Sanaa by a rival rebel camp in 2014.
 / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER
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US forces have in the past three months launched 17 air strikes targeting Al Qaeda in four separate governorates in Yemen, said the US Central Command.

Six air strikes against Al Qaeda in Yemen — known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — were carried out in February, seven in March and four in April, said a statement.

It added that the air strikes targeted a training camp in western Hadramawt governorate and an AQAP checkpoint for asserting regional control and raising illegal revenue in Al Bayda governorate.
Other air strikes took place in Al Bayda, Hadramawt, Zamakh and Shabwah governorates.

“In co-ordination with the government of Yemen, US forces are conducting a series of counter-terrorism operations against AQAP and ISIS-Yemen," said Lt Col Earl Brown, a US Central Command spokesman.

"We will continue to disrupt and degrade the ability of AQAP to plan attacks, confronting threats before they reach our borders."

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The US Central Command said that AQAP is a terrorist group that is committed to and capable of conducting attacks in the US.

“AQAP has taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Yemen to plot, direct and inspire terror attacks against the United States, its citizens and its allies around the world,” said a statement.

The US Central Command also said that it was aware of reports of civilian causalities following a March 29 air strike against Al Qaeda in Al Bayda and a credibility assessment is being conducted.