28 airstrikes in Yemen by the US army

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 19, 2012- According to an article posted on Long war Journal website said that the United States carried out at least 11 airstrikes in Yemen since the beginning of this year against militants in Yemen's southern provinces, killing and wounding scores of militants and civilians.

The website mentioned that three provinces in the south were targeted by US airstrikes just in 2012 with 11 airstrikes, 8 airstrikes in Abyan and Shabwa provinces while 3 others in Al-Baydha province.

The website confirmed that only one of this year's 11 strikes has killed a senior AQAP operative in Yemen. On Jan. 31, US drones killed Abdul Mun'im Salim al Fatahani near the city of Lawdar in Abyan province. Fatahani was involved in the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden that killed 17 US sailors, as well as the bombing that damaged the Limburg oil tanker in 2002. AQAP said that Fatahani had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The article reported that the U.S carried out 21 airstrikes in Yemen since the beginning of May 2011. Eleven of those strikes have taken place so far in 2012.

"Since 2002, the US has been conducting a covert program to target and kill al Qaeda commanders based in Yemen. Reports show that strikes have numbered 28 since 2002, with enemy deaths numbering 198 and civilian deaths numbering 48," the article read.