Airwars assessment
At 10 in the evening on the 14th/15th of January 2014, an alleged US drone strike reportedly killed a farmer and/or an al-Qaeda member, and injured two other al-Qaeda members, close to the city of Shibam in Hadramout Province, Yemen.
The identity of those harmed by the airstrike is disputed. Al Hayat reported that Abdul Majeed Faisal Al-Shehri (24), a suspected al-Qaeda operative, was killed by the airstrike. Abdul Majeed’s grandfather confirmed the death of his grandson over the phone to Al Hayat. Whilst other news sources were unable to specify the name of the victim, many sources pointed to the victim being an al-Qaeda operative. A local official reporting to Agence France-Presse stated that “A drone, likely an American, launched a raid on an al-Qaeda member while he was on foot in a suburb of Shibam, killing and turning his body to pieces”. Yemen-Press.net, on the other hand, did not clarify whether the individual who was killed was an al-Qaeda operative but stated that he was “a young man”.
Other news sources, such as Almotamar.net, point out there were two additional individuals who were injured in the air strike. Almotamar.net reported that the two additional individuals were also al-Qaeda operatives without being able to specify their identity. The local source reporting to Almotamar.net stated that the three individuals were travelling together in a vehicle when the air strike took place. Al-Madina also confirmed that one al-Qaeda operative was killed whilst two others were injured.
However, Reuters reported that a farmer was killed in the same area by two rockets early on Wednesday. Witnesses reporting to Reuters claimed that the farmer was killed by shrapnel as a result of the airstrike which hit him as he was walking in the village of Al-Houta close to the city of Shibam. The witnesses claim the airstrike was intended for “Islamist militants”. It is therefore not certain whether the reports about the airstrike hitting the alleged al-Qaeda operatives is the same as the one hitting the farmer, therefore a toll of 0-1 killed has been recorded for both militants and civilians.
Confusion also exists over when exactly the airstrike is supposed to have taken place. Al Hayat reports that the air strike took place on Tuesday the 14th. This is confirmed by Shorouk News who claim that the strike happened at midnight on Tuesday. However, Yemen-Press.net report, on the other hand, that the strike happened early on the morning of Wednesday the 15th.
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the US military.
The incident occured at 22:00:00 local time.