US backs Yemen's raids on Al-Qaeda
US President Barack Obama approved firepower, intelligence and other support requested by the Yemeni government to help it strike Al-Qaeda militants, The New York Times reported today.
Yemeni security forces killed at least 28 Al-Qaeda militants and captured 17 others in operations backed by air strikes that foiled imminent suicide attacks, the defence ministry said.
But witnesses said civilians were among about 50 people killed.
Several fighter planes took part in the raid and hit a civilian area by mistake, a local official in Abyan, a part of the former South Yemen republic authorities say has become a regrouping base for Islamist militants, told AFP.
Raids also took place in the capital Sanaa and the neighbouring district of Arhab, to the northeast, a defense ministry official.
Some of the strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts in Yemen this week were undertaken by local forces alone, US officials said.ABC News reported yesterday the reported attacks included US missiles.
The television network said one of the targeted sites was a suspected training camp for Al-Qaeda north of Sanaa while the second was at a site where "an imminent attack against a US asset was being planned,'' according to officials.
It identified raids carried out by Yemeni security forces at three separate location in addition to the two US cruise missile attacks.
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