| Amnesty International: actively on the other side. |
[Al Arabiya Latest] A U.S. cruise missile carrying cluster bombs was behind a December attack in Yemen that killed 55 people, most of them civilians, Amnesty International said.
The human rights group says it has evidence that points to U.S. involvement in airstrikes on suspected al-Qaida hideouts in Yemen late last year,
| Do tell us, AI: were they actually AQ hideouts? Because if they were, the fact that civilians were there means the AQ men chose to put them in danger, instead of stashing them safely with their families elsewhere, and therefore it's not surprising bad things happened to them. This is why smart guerrilla fighters keep their camps far from civilian communities. |
and criticizes Washington for allegedly using cluster munitions
| Show us the evidence for cluster bombs. Allegations don't count. Thank you. |
and not taking precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
| Allegations that precautions were not taken? That's pathetic. |
The group is also urging the United States to acknowledge role it played in the attack.
There are differing accounts of the Dec. 17 attack in the al-Majalah area of the southern Yemeni province of Abyan. Yemeni security officials originally said 34 al-Qaida militants were killed, although a Yemeni parliamentary committee later said in its report on the strike that 41 civilians were killed in the attack as well as militants.
After the attack, Yemen's defense ministry had claimed responsibility for it without mentioning a U.S. role, and Washington has not acknowledged a role in it. However, U.S. officials, speaking on conditions of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, acknowledged U.S. involvement in the bombing.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman referred questions on the Dec. 17 strike to the Yemeni government. But he also commended San'a for "dealing with the al-Qaida threat in their nation" and said the U.S. strongly supports action against the terror group in Yemen. |