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US Drones Target Yemen’s al-Qaeda for Fourth Consecutive Day | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Boys gather near a building damaged by a US drone air strike targeting suspected al-Qaeda militants in Azan in the southeastern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Feb 3. Reuters


London, Taiz- US drones have carried out air strikes targeting al-Qaeda sites and gatherings of the fifth consecutive night at the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, according to security and medical sources.

Suspected AQAP gunmen meanwhile killed five soldiers at a checkpoint in the southern province of Abyan on Sunday, Yemeni officials told AFP.

On Friday, the Pentagon said it carried out “somewhere over 30” strikes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in two days, conducted in partnership with the Yemeni government.

Residents said an air strike hit the home of al-Qaeda suspect in the village of Noufan in central al-Bayda province, and another struck a mountainous area believed to house a training camp in al-Saeed in southern Shabwa province.

There were no immediate reports on casualties in the raids, which took place in areas controlled by al-Qaeda militants.

The conflict between the government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition and the Iran-allied Houthi movement has allowed AQAP and Yemen’s branch of ISIS to gain territory and carry out attacks.

For his part, US Ambassador to Yemen Matthew Tueller told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington is currently carrying out a vigorous campaign on al-Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen, aiming at destroying these two terrorist organizations that only brought death and destruction to Yemen.

He confirmed that the US war against them is going unabated, adding that his country won’t miss any chance to eradicate terrorism in Yemen.

Washington has escalated its strikes against al-Qaeda in Yemen since the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s presidency. The number of strikes carried out within the past two months was more than those carried out within a whole year before Trump takes over.