US drones attacked a Yemeni Army base on the outskirts of the southeastern port city of Mukalla, killing four people, all of whom were described in media reports as “al-Qaeda suspects.” Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) holds Mukalla, and the base.
None of the slain in the latest drone strikes were identified yet. This is not uncommon, as US strikes rarely have any identification of victims except for those rare occasions when someone of note was slain.
The US has repeatedly struck Mukalla since AQAP took it over, killing a number of people. One of the strikes last month killed a former aid of Osama bin Laden, who was described as the “deputy chief” of AQAP.
Interestingly, while the Mukalla takeover made it an easy target for US drone strikes, there was little in the way of Saudi or US effort to prevent AQAP from taking the city over in the first place, as they overran the city with comparatively little effort early in the Saudi war.