Suspected US drone strike kills 6 Al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen

Al-Qaeda and a Daesh affiliate have exploited the ongoing conflict to expand their presence in Yemen. (File/AFP)
Updated 26 November 2018
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Suspected US drone strike kills 6 Al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen

  • The tribal leaders say an unmanned aircraft targeted an Al-Qaeda hideout in Al-Qrishia district in Bayda province on Sunday
  • Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni group is known, has long been considered the network’s most dangerous branch

SANAA, Yemen: Yemeni tribal leaders say a suspected US drone strike killed six alleged Al-Qaeda militants in the country’s southwest.
The tribal leaders say an unmanned aircraft targeted an Al-Qaeda hideout in Al-Qrishia district in Bayda province on Sunday, killing two commanders and four other militants.
The tribal leaders spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni group is known, has long been considered the network’s most dangerous branch and has attempted to carry out attacks on the US mainland.
Yemen was plunged into civil war more than three years ago.
Al-Qaeda and a Daesh affiliate have exploited the chaos to expand their presence in Yemen.


US imposes sanctions on commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group

Updated 6 sec ago
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US imposes sanctions on commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three commanders of the Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ​over their role in the 18-month siege and capture of Al-Fashir, accusing the group of carrying out systematic and widespread killings.
The US Treasury Department in a statement announcing the sanctions accused the RSF of perpetrating “a horrific campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence” during the ‌siege and ‌capture of Al-Fashir.
Darfur’s Al-Fashir ​fell ‌to ⁠RSF ​forces in ⁠October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.
The Treasury said that once the city was captured in October, RSF fighters accelerated systematic and widespread killings, detentions, and sexual violence, leaving no survivor, including civilians, unharmed. The Treasury ⁠accused the group of engaging in a ‌systematic campaign to ‌destroy evidence of mass killings by ​burying, burning and disposing ‌of tens of thousands of bodies.
More than 100,000 ‌were estimated to have fled Al-Fashir since late October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into ‌famine.
Survivors reported ethnically-motivated mass killings and widespread detentions during and after the ⁠takeover. Many people ⁠remain unaccounted for in Al-Fashir and surrounding areas.
“The United States calls on the Rapid Support Forces to commit to a humanitarian ceasefire immediately. We will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
Among those targeted by the Treasury on Thursday were an RSF brigadier general the department said filmed himself ​killing unarmed civilians, as ​well as a major general and RSF field commander.