The U.S. military launched an airstrike against Yemen’s al-Qaeda affiliate early Tuesday, targeting an area of the country where the group is increasingly asserting its influence.
At least a dozen people were killed in the strike, including insurgents from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — also known as AQAP — and local militants, according to some reports. Other accounts put the death toll at about half that number.
Abdul Monem al-Fahtani, said to be a mid-level AQAP leader, was reportedly among the dead. Fahtani is believed to have participated in the 2000 al-Qaeda suicide attack on the USS Cole, which left 17 American sailors dead. Wanted by the Yemeni government, he was the target of an attack by Yemeni forces in late 2010, although his death was never confirmed.