The U.S. military launched an airstrike against Yemen?s al-Qaeda affiliate on Tuesday, targeting an area of the country where the group is increasingly asserting its influence.
At least a dozen people were killed in the strike, including insurgents from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and local militants, according to some reports. Other accounts put the death toll at about half that number.
Abdul Monem al-Fahtani, said to be a mid-level AQAP leader, was reportedly among the dead. Fahtani has long been on terrorist target lists of both the Yemeni and U.S. governments. He was the target of an attack by Yemeni forces in late 2010, although his death was never confirmed.
Tuesday?s attack was carried out by the Joint Special Operations Command, which operates alongside the CIA in Yemen. It was unclear whether it involved unmanned drones, cruise missiles or piloted aircraft. All have been used in previous attacks in Yemen.
The strike follows a lull in U.S. air attacks in Yemen after the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric and AQAP leader who was killed in a drone strike in September.
Administration officials have expressed concern over AQAP?s expansion in southern Yemen, where various groups of local insurgents have taken control of territory during the political upheaval that has swept the country over the past year.
Some analysts have speculated that AQAP has at least temporarily shifted its focus from international terrorism to domestic goals in Yemen, joining forces with other militant groups to claim a geographic base from which to attack the government.
?The group is particularly strong in the Abyan and Shabwah [provinces], and they?ll most likely expand from there to establish themselves as a force in the surrounding provinces,? said a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence and counterterrorism matters.
But ?AQAP hasn?t changed its two main aims, which are to attack the West, while undermining the government of Yemen to solidify their safe haven there,? the official said. ?They may have more success at the latter if they continue to take advantage of the political unrest there, which is going to be tense for some time.?
U.S. officials have insisted that political turmoil in Yemen, where violence has repeatedly erupted between opposition forces and those loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has not interfered with Yemeni cooperation on counterterrorism operations.
Although the U.S. military took the lead in Tuesday?s strike, the CIA, which is seen as more effective in building human intelligence networks, has taken a more prominent role in the operations in recent months, said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the operations.
The CIA has also been able to develop a much closer relationship with Yemeni intelligence officials, the former official said. Those relationships proved crucial in the Awlaki strike, when the CIA was led to Awlaki?s location by a Yemeni intelligence source.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=759dabf690f3f3fa7dfe14523359a153
cnn world news music cnn world news open cnn world news opening cnn world news pastor eddie long cnn world news report
No comments:
Post a Comment