US strikes pound AQAP targets in Yemen

US forces on Thursday struck a series of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula targets in Yemen, the Pentagon announced, part of a broader increase in attacks against the civil-war-torn nation's jihadists.

Local officials said at least 12 AQAP members were killed in the strikes, which came barely one month after a botched US commando raid against the group left multiple civilians and a Navy SEAL dead.

"More than 20 strikes targeted AQAP militants, equipment and infrastructure in the Yemeni governorates of Abyan, Baida and Shabwa," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement.

He said AQAP has taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Yemen to plot, direct, and inspire terror attacks against America and its allies. 

The strikes were conducted "in partnership" with the Yemeni government, and coordinated with President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, Davis said.

AQAP fighters have exploited a power vacuum created by two years of war between Yemen's government and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital to consolidate their presence, particularly in the south and east.

The United States periodically sends small teams of commandos into Yemen, primarily to gather intel, and in recent months has been increasing activity against AQAP. 

President Donald Trump faced broad criticism at home after he authorized a large January 29 raid during which Navy SEAL Ryan Owens was killed and multiple civilians perished. 

Owens's father has described the mission as "stupid," and declined to meet with Trump.

Trump, the military's commander-in-chief, has sought to pass blame for the death to "the generals" and stressed the raid yielded large amounts of vital intelligence.

A US official told AFP that Thursday's strikes were planned months ago and were unrelated to the botched raid.

"The raid was valuable, but the strikes were not directly related to it," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials said the strikes were conducted with "manned and unmanned" capabilities, but declined to confirm or deny an AQAP report that US battleships had fired into the area and an attempted landing of US troops was aborted.

- At least 12 AQAP killed -

A provincial security official told AFP that a dawn strike targeted the home of a known Al-Qaeda member in Yashbum valley in the southern province of Shabwa province. Four suspected militants standing outside the house were killed, he said.

A second strike on Al-Qayfa in Baida province, further north, killed three suspected Al-Qaeda members, a local official and a tribal chief said.

Another strike targeted the jihadists in the Sawmaa district of the province, the local official said. 

And a fourth targeted an Al-Qaeda position east of Shaqra in the southern province of Abyan, a security source said.

There was no immediate word of casualties in the Sawmaa and Shaqra strikes.

In the afternoon, another drone strike hit a vehicle in Wadea district of Abyan province, killing five more Qaeda suspects, a security official said.

Al-Qaeda briefly overran Shaqra early last month just days after the US raid on one of their compounds in Baida province.

As many as 16 civilians -- eight women and eight children -- were also killed in the strike, a provincial official said, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

- Fighting near Mokha -

UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien wound up a visit to Yemen with a call for an end to the conflict in order to ease the impoverished country's humanitarian crisis.

"The best humanitarian solution is for there to be peace," he told reporters at Sanaa airport.

O'Brien expressed anger at being prevented on Tuesday from visiting the flashpoint southwestern city of Taez.

He was denied passage at the final checkpoint as he headed from the rebel-controlled north to Taez, where pro-government forces are holed up.

"I was outraged that humanitarian efforts to reach people in need were once again thwarted by parties to the conflict, especially at a time when millions of Yemenis are severely food insecure and face the risk of famine," he said.

In fighting Thursday, 12 Shiite Huthi rebels and six soldiers were killed in clashes near Mokha, a western coastal town captured last month by loyalists, medics and military sources said.

The rebels wrestled back control over Jabal al-Nar, 10 kilometres (six miles) to the east of Mokha, a military official said.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and 40,000 others wounded since March 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government, according to the UN. 

source: AFP