21/04/2014 10:41
'Massive' attack targets al Qaeda in Yemen
An operation targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is under way in Abyan and Shabwa, Yemen, a high-level Yemeni government official who is being briefed on the strikes told CNN on Monday.
The official said that the scale of the strikes against AQAP is "massive and unprecedented" and that at least 30 militants have been killed. The operation involved Yemeni commandos who are now "going after high-level AQAP targets," the official said.
A day earlier, suspected drone strikes targeted al Qaeda fighters in Yemen for the second time in two days, killing "at least a dozen," the government official said.
The predawn strikes targeted a mountain ridge in the southern province of Abyan, the official said. It's the same area where scores of followers of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had gathered recently to hear from Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the head of the terrorist network's Yemeni branch and the global organization's "crown prince," the official said.
"It's too early to tell how many militants were killed, but the number is at least a dozen," the official said. The targets included "foreign nationals," the official said, but he provided no details of what their nationalities were. Nor was it clear whether any high-value targets were among the dead and wounded, he said.
Yemen's state news agency SABA said three strikes targeted an al Qaeda training camp in the village of Wadi al Khila, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of the capital Sanaa. The fighters were "preparing to launch attacks against Yemeni and foreign interests in the area," according to a statement from the country's Supreme Security Committee.
"These strikes destroyed the training facility completely and killed both Yemeni and foreign members," it said.
The official said Sunday's raid was a joint U.S.-Yemeni operation. He would not confirm whether drones were used in the attack, but the United States is the only country known to have conducted drone strikes in Yemen -- and as a rule, U.S. officials don't comment on those strikes.