23/04/2014 09:26
U.S. flew Yemen troops into battle
The United States offered extensive assistance beyond drone strikes during a massive anti-terror operation in Yemen, including flying Yemeni commandos to a site where they killed scores of suspected al Qaeda members, a U.S. official said, according to CNN.
U.S. Special Operations troops wore night-vision gear and flew Yemeni forces to a remote, mountainous spot in southern Yemen, according to a senior U.S. official. The Yemeni helicopters that the U.S. personnel flew were Russian-made, which helped to minimize the U.S. footprint during the operation.
Once there, Yemeni commandos engaged suspected members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the U.S. official said, who added that no Americans took part in actual combat on the ground. This same official identified the American personnel involved as special operations members, who are among the most elite and clandestine in the U.S. military.
The official said the United States aided Yemen's government in other ways as well during the multiday operation, which resulted in the deaths of at least 65 suspected terrorists.
CIA drones are suspected to have targeted al Qaeda fighters, weapons locations and a training camp. The latter is near where about 100 suspected members of the terrorist group met recently, according to video that's appeared on jihadist websites and produced worries that the group could be plotting new attacks.
In the middle of that video, the man known as al Qaeda's crown prince, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen. Al-Wuhayshi is the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which is considered the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate.
In a speech to the group, al-Wuhayshi makes it clear that he's going after the United States, saying: "We must eliminate the cross. ... The bearer of the cross is America!"