US drone strike kills 5 militants: Yemen
Khaleej Times - 29 May, 2012
A US drone strike aiming for an Al Qaida leader has killed five militants in the country’s south.
They said the Monday airstrike targeted Qaid Al-Dahab, a local leader of Al Qaida, in a convoy of three cars near the town of Radda, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital, Sanaa. Four militants were wounded. The officials said al-Dahab’s fate was not yet known.
Al-Dahab’s sister was the wife of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born radical cleric killed by a US drone strike last fall.
There was no immediate word from Washington on the strike that targeted Al-Dahab.
On Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended drone strikes in Yemen as a measure “to defend and protect the United States of America.” He was interviewed by the American ABC TV network.
Al Qaida’s branch in Yemen, is one of the movement’s most dangerous offshoots. The U.S. considers the impoverished country as a key battleground in the war against Al Qaida. |
