WASHINGTON — The United States conducted airstrikes overnight on Thursday against several targets suspected of belonging to al-Qaida across south-central Yemen, according to U.S. and Yemeni military officials, the first U.S. attacks in the country since an ill-fated Special Operations
WASHINGTON — The United States conducted airstrikes overnight on Thursday against several targets suspected of belonging to al-Qaida across south-central Yemen, according to U.S. and Yemeni military officials, the first U.S. attacks in the country since an ill-fated Special Operations raid in January.
The coordinated series of attacks against al-Qaida militants occurred in three Yemeni provinces that have been suspected of being the site of terrorist activity — Abyan, Shabwa and Baydha — according to the Pentagon.
It was not immediately clear if the strikes were conducted against targets that were identified using information collected from the January raid that left one member of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 dead and three others wounded, and that killed about two dozen civilians.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday that more than 20 strikes were “conducted in partnership with the government of Yemen” and were coordinated with President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He said the attacks targeted al-Qaida militants, equipment and infrastructure.
The mention that the strikes were done in partnership with Hadi’s government is notable because he had withdrawn permission for the United States to conduct Special Operations ground missions, a decision prompted by anger at the civilian casualties incurred in the January raid.
Computers and cellphones seized during that raid offered clues about attacks al-Qaida could carry out in the future, including insights into new types of hidden explosives the group is making and new training tactics for militants, U.S. officials said.
But it is still unclear how much the information advances the military’s knowledge of the plans and future operations of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, and some intelligence and congressional officials have questioned how significant the information analyzed so far really is.
“There are obvious contradictions about the relative value of intelligence,” said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., of the Intelligence Committee, who added in an interview this week that she would be seeking more explanations from intelligence officials.
Local news media in Yemen reported that at least three people suspected of being al-Qaida members were killed in the country’s southeastern province of Shabwa. Residents near the scene in the Saeid region in Shabwa said the airstrike destroyed a house used by al-Qaida operatives.
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