Us drones mistakenly killed civilians and five civilians were killed
Sana'a, April 19 (Xinhua) the Yemeni military said on the 19th that a U.S. drone attacked the convoy of Al Qaeda militants in BEDA Province in southwestern Yemen that day, killing 21 people, including 5 civilians.
An unnamed Beida provincial officer told Xinhua that the location of the drone air raid was in hazmeh District of Beida Province, about 260 kilometers away from the capital Sana'a. The drone missile hit the convoy of Al Qaeda militants, killing at least 16 militants, but mistakenly hit a moving car, killing five civilians.
Witnesses said another moving car was also damaged in the attack, injuring six civilians.
This is the seventh air raid conducted by us drones in Yemen in recent two months. In early April, US drones killed three members of Al Qaeda in the operation in Abyan Province in Southern Yemen.
Since the unrest in Yemen in 2011, Al Qaeda has taken advantage of the chaos to expand its sphere of influence in the country and frequently attacked government institutions, the army and foreign embassies and consulates in Yemen. U.S. drones have stepped up air strikes against al Qaeda since 2012, but they have also accidentally injured civilians many times in air strikes. Yemeni people and human rights organizations held many rallies to demand that the US military stop drone air strikes in Yemen.