ADEN // Two suspected US drone strikes killed 12 militants overnight in southern Yemen, residents said on Thursday, including a top Al Qaeda commander who may have been the new leader of ISIL in Yemen.
One strike killed six men in a car travelling in Al Rawda city in Shabwa province, a remote desert area where Al Qaeda militants are believed to be operating. The province has been targeted by drone strikes this year.
Another attack hit militants in their car in the coastal Abyan province, killing six occupants including Jalal Baleedi, a powerful field commander who is suspected of leading Al Qaeda attacks on the Yemeni state.
As fighting in the country has intensified amid nine months of civil war and a military intervention by the Saudi-led coalition, Baleedi is believed to have recently defected from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and become the chief of ISIL’s Yemen branch.
AQAP has taken advantage of the war pitting Houthis against forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to grab territory and operate more openly.
The group has claimed credit for several thwarted attacks on US-bound airliners as well as the deadly assault on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.
But AQAP has faced ideological competition from ISIL, which has siphoned off recruits as it has launched attacks against Shiite Muslim mosques and government targets. Suspected US drone strikes, which normally use Hellfire missiles, have killed some of AQAP’s top leaders, including its chief Nasser Al Wuhayshi last June.
* Reuters
