US Drone Strike Kills Three Civilians in Southern Yemen

Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:42PM
presstv.ir

A file photo shows two freshly assembled US drones as they sit on a base in Logar Province, Afghanistan. (By AFP)

At least three Yemeni civilians have lost their lives when a US unmanned aerial vehicle carried out a strike in the southern part of the impoverished Arab country.

The deadly drone strike was conducted in al-Saeed area of Shabwah Province on Sunday afternoon.

The casualties came after the aerial attack hit a vehicle carrying four people, suspected to be al-Qaeda members. The vehicle was completely destroyed in the strike, which also hit three civilians who happened to be passing nearby.

The US has intensified its military engagement in Yemen in recent weeks.

On March 2, Washington launched a series of strikes against alleged al-Qaeda targets in Yemen. The military attacks focused on the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah as well as Bayda, farther to the north.

The military operations were the first since a botched ground raid in January that killed women and children as well as an American commando.

The drone strikes in Yemen continue alongside the Saudi military aggression against the impoverished conflict-ridden country. Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an unsuccessful attempt to reinstate a former government.

The aerial attacks, initiated by former US President George W. Bush in 2004, were escalated during former US president Barack Obama’s terms in office.

The attacks had been carried out in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere.

US President Donald Trump has recently given the CIA new authority to launch drone strikes across various parts of the world in Washington’s so-called war on terror.

The US claims the airstrikes target members of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have also been the victims of the attacks in many cases.