Aden: At least seven al-Qaida militants including two top operatives were killed in two airstrikes in south Yemen, media reported on Thursday.
The attacks could be another setback for al-Qaida, coming just days after details emerged about a Saudi mole within the network who reportedly provided information allowing the CIA to target a key leader of Yemen’s terror branch.
Yemeni security officials told media on the condition of anonymity that Thursday’s airstrikes hit in the town of Jaar and northeast of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan.
The first, pre-dawn strike Thursday killed five militants, hitting a house on the western outskirts of Jaar where they were staying and completely leveling the structure.
One of those killed was a senior member of the terror network in charge of armament, known by his moniker al-Galadi, Yemeni officials said. The man is originally from another province, Marib, and his family arrived later in the day in Jaar for his burial, the officials said.The other four militants killed were not immediately identified.
The second airstrike hit in Shaqra, northeast of Zinjbar, killing two militants, the Yemeni officials said. They said one of those killed was al-Qaida’s second-in-command for Lawder, a town further north that was controlled by the group last year until its residents drove the militants out. The militants have since been trying to stage a comeback in Lawder.
The United States has usually used drones to strike al-Qaida in Yemen. Yemeni officials said one of the raids was carried out by a drone but provided no details on the other.
There was no immediate word from Washington on whether it was behind the airstrikes. The two areas hit are part of large swaths of territory in the south that have been held by al-Qaida for a year.
The U.S. and Yemen have resumed cooperation in the fight against al-Qaida, which has taken advantage of Yemen’s political turmoil to capture territory and plot attacks against American targets. Cooperation was suspended nearly a year ago during the popular uprising against the authoritarian regime of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
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