Sana’a: A senior Al Qaida official wanted by the United States and a local leader of the militant group’s affiliate, Ansar Al Sharia, were killed in a drone strike in central Yemen overnight, tribal sources and a militant said on Wednesday.
Nabil Al Dahab, leader of Ansar Al Sharia in Yemen’s Al Bayda province, was killed along with four other Al Qaida members, including Shawki Al Badani, the sources said. Al Badani is a leader of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) who is wanted by the United States.
Mamoun Hatem, another AQAP leader, confirmed on his Twitter account that Al Dahab had been killed by “American planes defending the Houthis against the charging mujahiden”.
The Yemeni Defence Ministry said Al Badani had been killed, and added without elaborating that an Al Qaida leader it identified as Abu Maysara Al Hanaki had been killed by air strikes.
The US State Department had designated Al Badani as a “global terrorist”, saying he was linked to at least two plots against the US embassy in Sana’a and a 2012 suicide bombing in the Yemeni capital that killed more than 100 soldiers.
A June 17, 2014, posting on the State Department website said the Yemeni government had offered a $100,000 reward for information about Al Badani. It also reported Yemeni authorities describing him as one of “the most dangerous terrorists affiliated with Al Qaida”.
US drone strikes killed at least 10 suspected Al Qaida militants on Tuesday in central Yemen, where fighting between members of Ansar Al Sharia and rebel Al Houthi fighters also killed 10 people, tribesmen said.
Fighting has flared in different parts of Yemen since the Al Houthis rose to dominance in recent months, threatening the fragile stability of a country that borders Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter.
Al Houthi forces took over Sana’a in September and fanned out into central and western Yemen. That antagonised Sunni tribesmen and Al Qaida militants, who regard Al Houthis as heretics.
Meanwhile, security officials say that the rebels took control of Adeen, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Sana’a in Ibb province, which Al Qaida forces had captured over the past two weeks. Earlier last month, Al Qaida militants stormed the local security headquarters in Adeen and held it for hours before fleeing to the mountains.
Adeen is not the only place where Al Qaida and Al Houthis are engaged in direct confrontations. On Tuesday, at least 30 people were killed in clashes between Al Houthis and Al Qaida militants in the central town of Radda where tribes, opposed to both, fear of shifting alliances that could cause some tribes to side with Al Qaida against Al Houthi rebels.
On Tuesday, the leader of Yemen’s powerful Al Houthi rebels, brushed off the threat of UN Security Council sanctions. “We are not afraid,” said Abdul Malek Al Houthi.
The United Nations last month expressed deep concern at developments in Yemen, urging the new government to expedite reforms — especially in the army and security forces — and threatening to impose sanctions on “spoilers” endangering the country’s peace, security and stability.
UN diplomats said the United States has asked the council to freeze the assets and impose a global travel ban on three “spoilers” — Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is believed to have allied with Al Houthis, and two Al Houthi leaders, Abd Al Khaliq Al Houthi and Abdullah Yahya Al Hakim.
Approval by all 15 council members is required to impose sanctions, and the council has set a deadline of Friday evening for objections, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private.
If there are no objections, the Security Council committee examining possible sanctions on Yemenis, which met on Tuesday afternoon and includes all 15 members, will order sanctions on the ex-president and the two Al Houthis.
