US airstrike kills 8 AQAP terrorists in Yemen

An Emirati gunner watches for enemy fire in Yemen. A US airstrike in Yemen killed eight operatives of Al-Qaeda. (AP)
Updated 29 April 2017
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US airstrike kills 8 AQAP terrorists in Yemen

WASHINGTON: A US airstrike in Yemen killed on Sunday eight operatives of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), including a key leader, said the Pentagon.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman, said the airstrike on April 23 killed Abu Ahmed Awlaqi, who had led AQAP operations in Shabwa province. Davis said he was a plotter of external attacks and had facilitated the extremist group’s transfer of weapons and explosives.
Davis said seven other AQAP operatives also were killed in the airstrike.
The strike targeted a car in which the suspects were traveling in the Rawda region of Shabwa province, according to a Yemeni official who preferred anonymity.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the US has intensified its air war against AQAP, regarded by Washington as the most dangerous branch of the extremist group.
The Pentagon said on April 3 that it had carried out more than 70 strikes against terror targets in Yemen since Feb. 28.
Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the chaos caused by more than two years of civil war to expand its presence in Yemen.


Israel police say two dead in stabbing, car ramming attack

Updated 6 sec ago
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Israel police say two dead in stabbing, car ramming attack

  • The attack came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian from the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a man and a woman in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel before he was shot and wounded on Friday, Israeli police and rescuers said.
“Preliminary investigation indicates this was a rolling terror attack that began in the city of Beit Shean, where a pedestrian was run over,” the police said in a statement, adding the victim was a 68-year-old man.
“Later, a young woman was stabbed near Road 71, and the suspect was ultimately engaged with gunfire near Maonot Junction in Afula following intervention by a civilian bystander,” it said, adding that the attacker was taken to a hospital.
Both the victims succumbed to the injuries, Israel’s emergency service provider Magen David Adom said in a statement.
MDA also reported that a 16-year-old teenager was slightly injured when “hit by a vehicle.”
The Israeli military said the attacker had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.”
The attack came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank.