Nine members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, including a local leader, killed in strikes attribued to the US in southern Yemen.
Nine members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, including a local leader, were killed in strikes on southern Yemen, a Yemeni security source informed AFP on Saturday.
The attacks, widely attributed to the United States, targeted several locations in the mountainous region of north Khabar Al-Maraqsha, known for its use by the group.
The official in Abyan province, which borders the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in Aden, confirmed the increased casualty count. An earlier assessment had reported five Al-Qaeda members killed in the attack.
The targeted group, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was once considered by Washington as the network’s most dangerous branch. AQAP emerged in 2009 from the merger of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi factions, significantly expanding amidst the chaos of Yemen’s ongoing conflict.
AQAP has carried out many terrorist attacks in Yemen in recent years and has also targeted the West.
In 2015, the group claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris and then called for “lone wolf attacks” against Western targets.
In 2020, AQAP claimed an attack at a US naval base in Pensacola, Florida, though it provided no evidence.
Several of its leaders have been eliminated in US strikes in Yemen in recent years.
The strikes against AQAP come amidst a recent ceasefire agreement between the United States and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have controlled significant portions of Yemen for over a decade.
This agreement followed weeks of intense American strikes on Houthi-held areas, which were initiated in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping beginning in November 2023.
