Published on 29 December 2012, by M. Tomazy.
The United Staes has acknowledged for the first time it carried out a September drone strike that killed 11 people in Yemen. The victims were packed into a truck on a desert road in the town of Radda when they were struck by a missile. The dead included three children. The Washington Post reports the Yemeni government tried to hide U.S. responsibility for the attack by taking credit for carrying it out. The Yemeni government also initially claimed that only militants were killed in the strike, but were forced to withdraw that claim after mourners tried to bring the dead bodies to the gates of the presidential residence. According to the Washington Post, the attack has devastated the community in Radda and militants in surrounding areas have gained more recruits for their fight against the U.S.-backed Yemeni government since it occurred. Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010 show the United States and Yemen have repeatedly covered up the use of U.S. warplanes to bomb Yemen. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, covert U.S. operations have killed up to 171 civilians, including 35 children, in Yemen over the past decade.
(Democracy Now!)
