ADEN: At least four suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed on Friday in a presumed US drone strike in Yemen’s central Al-Bayda province, a local government source said.
The strike took place in the district of Rada’a and killed the local Al-Qaeda leader there and three others, the government source told Reuters. Tribal sources put the death toll at five.
A tribal source told AFP the early morning strike on a vehicle travelling in Manasseh village killed Qaeed Al-Dhahab and two other men.
Witnesses confirmed the death of Dhahab, a military chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who had previously fought with the group in Iraq.
The tribal source said Dhahab was killed just hours after his marriage on Thursday. He was the brother of Tarek Al-Dhahab, an AQAP leader who in January 2012 with other militants briefly overran the town of Radah in Bayda province before being killed by Yemeni troops.
Seen as a high-profile AQAP leader, Qaeed Al-Dhahab was also the brother-in-law of Yemeni-born American cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, a key figure in AQAP who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
Top Al-Qaeda militant, 3 aides taken out in Yemen drone strike
Top Al-Qaeda militant, 3 aides taken out in Yemen drone strike
Palestinians from West Bank arrive at Israeli checkpoints for first Friday prayers of Ramadan
- Israeli authorities said they would only allow up to 10,000 Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank to attend prayers at al-Aqsa
Palestinian worshippers coming from West Bank cities arrived at Israeli checkpoints on Friday hoping to cross to attend first Friday prayers of Ramadan at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Some said they were not allowed to enter and were asked to go back.
Israeli authorities said they would only allow up to 10,000 Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank to attend prayers at al-Aqsa, as security forces stepped up deployments across the city.
Police said preparations for Ramadan had been completed, with large numbers of officers and border police to be deployed in the Old City, around holy sites and along routes used by worshippers.
Israel's COGAT, a military agency that controls access to the West Bank and Gaza, said that entry to Jerusalem from the West Bank would be capped at 10,000 worshippers. Men aged 55 and over and women aged 50 and over will be eligible to enter, along with children up to age 12 accompanied by a first-degree relative, COGAT said.
Al-Aqsa lies at the heart of Jerusalem's old city. It is Islam's third holiest site and known to Jews as Temple Mount.
