Tuesday, January 31, 2012

US airstrike in Yemen kills USS Cole bombing suspect

Feel-good story of the day.
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting leaders from Yemen’s active al-Qaida branch killed four suspected militants, including a man suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the destroyer Cole, officials said Tuesday.

Missiles struck a school and a car late Monday in the southern Abyan province, Yemeni security and military officials said. Large swaths of the province have fallen under the influence of al-Qaida as the militants exploit a security vacuum stemming from an uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that began last year. [...]


Tribal officials in the area said the latest strike hit the militants as they were holding an important meeting at the school. Air strikes also hit targets in the surrounding mountains and a car carrying people to the meeting between the towns of Lauder and Moudia. Another car on its way to the meeting got away, the officials said.

Yemeni security officials originally put the death toll at 15 people but later lowered that figure to four. They also said 12 militants were wounded in the strikes.

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