Drone targeted militants’ vehicle, say tribesmen, amid reports of dozens of defections from Yemen’s Isis affiliate
A US drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen on Saturday, according to local tribesmen.
Believed to be the first drone strike this year in Yemen, it targeted the militants’ vehicle while they were travelling in Shabwa province, the tribesmen said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
It was not immediately possible to verify their account. US officials rarely comment on the covert drone program.
The latest strike comes amid reports of divisions and defections among al-Qaida’s rival group, the Islamic State affiliate in Yemen, as a defected group leader gave an online testimony, claiming that Isis fabricated videos to exaggerate their strength and presence.
In testimony posted online by al-Qaida supporters, a man calling himself Antar al-Kanadi said he defected from Isis because its leadership had become too extreme. Al-Kanadi’s allegations seem to match reports elsewhere of dissension within the Yemeni Isis ranks.
According to The Long War Journal, which monitors militant group activity, more than a dozen Isis leaders and scores of their fighters have rebelled against the top leader, Abu Bilal al-Harbi, for alleged violations of Shariah law.
“Seventy members of the Islamic State’s Yemeni branch announced their ‘defection’ from the Islamic State’s wali in a letter published online on 15 December,” it said.
Al-Kanadi also alleged that Isis in Yemen released two videos of training camps in Hadramawt province and fraudulently claimed they were elsewhere in the country.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/16/us-drone-strike-yemen-al-qaida-isis
