Article Image

IPFS News Link • Drones

US drones have also hit Yemen and Somalia

• thenews.com

LAHORE: Though the American drone attacks have continued unabated in Pakistan since 2004, they have also been hunting suspects in countries like Yemen and Somalia.

Research reveals that in November 2002, a CIA-controlled Predator drone fired a Hellfire missile at a Sport Utility Vehicle in the Yemeni desert containing Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a Yemeni suspected senior al-Qaeda stalwart believed to be the mastermind of the October 2000 United States Navy guided-missile destroyer “USS Cole” bombing that had killed 17 Americans.

In addition to al-Harethi, as the “New York Times” had reported, five other occupants of the targeted vehicle were killed, all of whom were suspected al-Qaeda terrorists. One of those killed in this attack was Kamal Derwish, an American citizen. It may be recalled that on September 17, 2008, the American Embassy attack in the city of Sana in Yemen had claimed 19 lives, which made Washington DC believe that Yemen too was a breeding place of al-Qaeda loyalists.

Earlier on March 18, 2008, a mortar attack had missed the US embassy and had instead hit a nearby girls’ school.Based on reports from Reuters, AI (Amnesty International), the Washington Post, the American Long War Journal and the Wall Street Journal etc “The News International” has compiled a time-line of some major US drone attacks on Yemen during the recent years.



PurePatriot