U.S. Kills Senior Al Qaeda Operative in Yemen With Missile Strike
Monday: A man picks through the remains of an exploded car in northwestern Yemen.
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces killed a top associate of Usama bin Laden in Yemen in a missile strike, expanding the war on terror with America's first overt attack on suspected Al Qaeda operatives outside of Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Monday.
Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi was one of several Al Qaeda members traveling by car in northwest Yemen when a Hellfire missile struck it Sunday, killing him and five others. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the attack was believed to have been conducted by a CIA aircraft, possibly a missile-carrying Predator drone.
The official Yemeni news agency, local tribesmen and the U.S. official confirmed the strike killed al-Harethi. Witnesses said they saw an aircraft, possibly a helicopter, in the area. Hellfires can also be launched by attack helicopters.
The others killed were believed to be low-level operatives. The attack occurred...