US Cluster Bomblets Linger After Mid-December Yemen Attack

Attack Has Killed 52, So Far

The Obama Administration’s mid-December attack on a Yemeni town is continuing to pose dangers for civilians, it is being reported, and the 52 people killed so far in the missile strike may not be the final toll.

Amnesty International has released photos showing that cluster bomblets from the US missile strike remain unexploded on the ground near the site of the attack.

One of only a handful of nations in the world which still has not signed the cluster munitions ban, US attacks with the bomblets have been regularly criticized as killing civilians months and even years after the initial strike, as unexploded ordinance remains in the area waiting for someone to trigger it.

The US attack was part of a broader coordinated attack with the Yemeni government, which killed around 120 people overall. President Obama called Yemeni President Saleh after the attack to congratulate him, and the Yemeni government initial claimed a large number of al-Qaeda members slain It was later revealed, however, that virtually everyone killed was a civilian, and that most were women and children.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.