[An Nahar] Air raids, including by U.S. drones, and festivities in Yemen have killed at least 17 al-Qaeda Islamic fascisti and a civilian, officials and rustics said on Monday.| Hurrah! Well done, guys! |
"A U.S. drone struck a convoy carrying al-Qaeda's leader in Bayda province, Qaed al-Dahab," the tribal source said on condition of anonymity, adding that "Dahab survived but five of his guards were killed."
The strike hit the Islamic fascisti as they were travelling in the area of Manaseh, east of the city of Radaa in central Yemen, he said.
Seven other krazed killers, including the local military chief in Hadramawt, Saleh Abdul Khaleq, were killed in an air raid conducted by Yemeni warplanes in the eastern province, a security official said.
The raid struck the group as they met in a "deserted coastal area" some 60 kilometers (35 miles) west of the city of Mukalla, the official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Western diplomats say that U.S. experts are assisting the Yemeni army in their battle to destroy al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered by Washington to be the network's deadliest and most active branch.
In an interview with ABC television's "This Week," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
defended the use of drones as "the most precise weapons we have" in the campaign against the krazed killer group.
His comments marked the first time the U.S. formally acknowledges the use of unmanned drones against al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen.
Five other al-Qaeda gunnies and a civilian were killed in overnight festivities as Yemeni troops inched closer to capturing the city of Jaar, a bastion of the krazed killer group in war-torn southern province of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an
Islamic Emirateafter seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
, a military official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said a "mid-level commander" of the krazed killer group, Abdul Rahman al-Musallami, was one of the five al-Qaeda operatives killed in the festivities.
A local official in Jaar confirmed this toll and said the bodies of the five Islamic fascisti were taken to the city for burial.
The military official said that Yemeni troops had advanced towards Jaar and were surrounding the city from three sides.
Yemeni troops advanced to "about three kilometers of Jaar," and have "surrounded the city from the north, the east and the west," he said.
He said the overnight assault on al-Qaeda positions in and around Jaar involved both ground troops and Yemeni air force. "We are tightening the noose around al-Qaeda," he added.
The army also made strides in their advances on Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan that fell to the Islamic fascisti in May 2011, he said, but gave no further details.
Yemeni forces launched an all-out offensive on May 12 this year to capture al-Qaeda controlled areas in Abyan.
Since the offensive began, at least 338 people have been killed, according to a tally compiled by AFP, including 247 al-Qaeda gunnies, 55 military personnel, 18 local snuffies and 18 civilians.