A US drone strike against a car in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramawt killed three people today, none of whom have been identified.
Yemeni officials were quick to insist they were uninvolved in the attack in any way, though their own official statements referred to all of the slain as “suspected al-Qaeda militants.”
US strikes have become increasingly common across central and eastern Yemen, with the Hadi government giving very public approval for the attacks and dismissing growing condemnations from locals who say many of the victims are civilians.
The killings are becoming an increasingly public issue, however, as the families of slain civilians come forward more willingly to criticize the attacks, and many warn that the US, in killing so haphazardly in populated areas, is actually giving al-Qaeda major support in these regions as the only group that stands up to the US, since the Hadi government clearly will not.