Aden: Three suspected Al Qaida members were killed overnight in what local officials believed was a US drone strike in Southern Yemen.
Residents and local officials said on Friday the attack took place in Mozno in Al Wadie district of Abyan province. The three killed included the local leader of the militant group, Waddah Muhammed Amsouda, who was meeting the others in a house in the area, they said.
Residents also reported a separate attack on a suspected Al Qaida vehicle, in the same province, but said the number of casualties was unknown.
Abyan is one of several provinces in central and Southern Yemen where Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its local affiliate Ansar Al Sharia operate.
The United States has repeatedly attacked AQAP, using aircraft and unmanned drones in what US officials say is a campaign to degrade the group’s ability to coordinate attacks abroad.
AQAP has exploited two years of civil war in Yemen to recruit followers and cement its dominance in central and southern parts of the poor Arabian Peninsula country.
The Pentagon has said that a March 2 strike against AQAP killed Yasir Al Silmi, also know as Mohammad Tahar, a former detainee from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
Saudi embassy in UK says Major General Asiri is safe
LONDON: The Saudi embassy to the United Kingdom stressed Major General Ahmed Asiri, adviser to the Minister of Defence and spokesman of the Coalition Forces to Support Legitimacy in Yemen was safe after he had been exposed to an assault attempt by a group of protesters.
The Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi embassy’s twitter account as saying that Major General Asiri was exposed to an assault attempt by a group of protesters who were trying to disrupt his participation in the European Council seminar on foreign relations to discuss the situation in Yemen.
The embassy would like to thank the British police for its cooperation in protecting the place and ensuring the safe exit for the Saudi ambassador and Major General Asiri from the building.
The Saudi embassy stressed that Asiri continued his communication programme in Britain without any change in spite of the desperate attempts to disrupt him by forces pursuing violence as a principle.
