US
unleashes three days of drone strikes on Yemen, 55 killed
Dozens
are reportedly dead in Yemen, including at least three civilians, as
the result of a series of drone strikes that started in the southern
part of the country on Saturday and is alleged to still be occurring
two days later.
RT,
21
April, 2014
By
noontime in Washington, DC on Monday, the Associated
Press reported that
55 Al-Qaeda militants were among those that had been killed in an
hours-long series of strikes that targeted a training camp operated
by the group, according to Yemen's interior ministry. The United
States is alleged to have carried out the strikes using unmanned
aerial vehicles, or drones, but does not legally have to acknowledge
any operations conducted by its Central Intelligence Agency and has
not commented.
People inspect the wreckage of a car
hit by an air strike in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda
April 19, 2014. (Reuters)
Among
the 55 believed to be killed in that series of strikes, the AP
reported, were three senior but unnamed Al-Qaeda leaders.
The AFP also
corroborated that claim by reporting that witnesses on the scene in
Shabwa province early Monday said three alleged militants were indeed
killed when a missile struck the car the men were traveling in that
morning.
At
the same time on Monday, an anonymous Yemeni government official
briefed on the strikes told CNNthat
the strikes had yet to cease and that at, by his count, at least 30
alleged militants had been killed. Statistics regarding the death
toll remain fluid, but preliminary reports concerning the strikes
suggest that the number of those killed since Saturday is in the
dozen.
Yemen's
Saba news agency reported that a drone strike in the central province
of Bayda on Saturday killed 10 suspected militants and three
civilians. A Yemeni military officials added to the AP that a car
carrying the alleged militants was struck by a missile as it drove by
a vehicle carrying civilians, and an eyewitness who survived the
attack said a second strike occurred soon after. Three civilians were
injured in addition to those slain in that attack, the AP reported.
A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator,
unmanned aerial vehicle, armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles
(Reuters)
On
Sunday, US drones reportedly targeted an Al-Qaeda training camp in
the nearby province of Abyan and killed another 30.
Civilian deaths mount
The
US has unofficially paused its
drone strike campaign in Pakistan, as negotiations continue between
the Pakistani Taliban and the nation’s government. Yet strikes in
Yemen have not stalled – nor has the official secrecy of the US
that has marked its drone operations there.
In
December, a US drone strike killed 15 members of a wedding party,
mistaking a procession of vehicles for a militant convoy. The group
had been en route to the village of Qaifa, the site of the wedding,
when it was hit. The assault left charred bodies strewn in the road
and vehicles on fire, officials told AP.
In
an unusual acknowledgement, the US said its military was responsible.
Specifically, it was the Joint Special Operations Command, which,
besides the CIA, is the only other entity using drones in Yemen. But
after its own investigation of the incident, the US maintained that
no civilians died in the strike.
Last
October, Human Rights Watch released a damning report
on US drone strikes in Yemen. It described six of the total of some
80 targeted killing operations in the country. In those six attacks,
82 people were killed, 57 of whom – or practically 70 percent –
were civilians.
The
Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which diligently analyzes each
US drone strike,
has confirmed that drones have killed as many as 451 people in Yemen,
including as many as 82 civilians. "Possible" –
though unconfirmed – strikes have killed as many as 545 people
total and as many as 45 civilians, the Bureau says.
Yet
the US strike policy is so broad that it considers any military-age
male in a strike zone as a combatant, especially if he is armed.
Thus, even by the strictest standards, there are likely many more
civilians who have died but were considered fighters or militants.
In
addition to the high civilian casualty rates, critics say these drone
strike policies are done in violation of international law, and
question whether the Obama administration has the authority to
sanction the killings without a court warrant.
One
particular practice denounced by human rights activists is the use of
so-called ‘signature
strikes,’ in
which a drone attack is launched based not on the identification of
known Al-Qaeda fighters, but on the behavior of people.
In
May 2013, amid criticism about US drone strikes overseas, President
Obama said in a policy speech that “before
any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians
will be killed or injured,”adding
that this is “the
highest possible standard.” Though
the latest strikes, among others, have caused
analysts to
question whether the Obama administration’s supposed “new
rules” for
strikes are consistent at all.
Yemen
is considered to be the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)’s
main foothold of what is deemed the most active wing of the militant
network. The Yemeni government has asked the US for assistance in
fighting terror threats, yet the entirety of negotiations between the
US and Yemen is unknown.
Critics
maintain that the drone strikes program in the country has done
nothing to stem the growth of Al-Qaeda, and has even increased
support for the terror network.
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