Yemen says U.S. drone struck a wedding convoy, killing 14
From Hakim Almasmari, for CNN
December 13, 2013
Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) — A U.S. drone mistakenly targeted a wedding convoy in Yemen’s al-Baitha province after intelligence reports identified the vehicles as carrying al Qaeda militants, two Yemeni national security officials told CNN on Thursday.
The officials said that 14 people were killed and 22 others injured, nine in critical condition. The vehicles were traveling near the town of Radda when they were attacked.
“This was a tragic mistake and comes at a very critical time. None of the killed was a wanted suspect by the Yemeni government,” said a top Yemeni national security official who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to talk to media.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the report.
2 killed in Egypt clashes over Morsi ouster
Published today (updated) 14/12/2013 10:36
president Mohammed Morsi during clashes in Cairo, on Dec. 6, 2013
(AFP/File Mahmoud Khaled)
CAIRO (AFP) — Two young men were killed in clashes Friday between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s toppled Islamist president as police used tear gas to disperse protests, officials said.
Protesters across the country defied the icy weather brought by a rare winter storm to vent anger over the military’s July 3 overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president.
A 23-year-old was hit by gunfire in Suez when clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi, and three policemen were wounded, local officials and medics in the canal city said.
Protesters in Suez also torched a police car, security officials said, adding that a similar incident took place in Qena in southern Egypt.
In Fayyum, south of the capital, a 19-year-old man was shot dead in clashes and two policemen were wounded by buckshot, local health department officials said.
Several killed in Iraq-Iran pipeline attack
At least 18 workers, including 15 Iranians, killed in attack in northeastern Iraq as country hit by day of violence. Last updated: 13 Dec 2013 19:03
 Violence in Iraq has reached levels not seen since 2008, when US forces were still fighting for control [Reuters]
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Unidentified gunmen have killed 18 people and injured six others working on a gas pipeline in Iraq, police sources have told Al Jazeera. Gunmen in three vehicles used machine guns in the attack on Friday evening in the town of Imam Wais, 65km east of Baghdad. Fifteen Iranian and three Iraqi workers were killed, while five Iranians and one Iraqi were wounded. The workers were laying the foundation for a gas pipeline which is set to connect Iraq with neighbouring Iran. Deadly day Also on Friday, a series of car bombs and attacks in Iraq killed 18 people, and wounded 37 others, according to Al Jazeera police sources. A car bomb exploded near a security checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing six people, and injuring at least ten. In a drive-by shooting in Baghdad’s Ghazaliyah area, gunmen shot and killed two people, including a government employee, in their car. |
Three killed in separate Pakistan polio shootings
Gunmen have shot dead at least two policemen providing security to a team of polio workers in north-west Pakistan. A polio worker was also killed in a separate attack, local media have reported.
The two policemen were travelling from the town of Swabi to Topi by motorbike when they were attacked.
The polio worker was shot on the outskirts of Peshawar.
The attacks are the latest in a series targeting polio teams in the country.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban oppose the polio vaccination schemes, which they see as a cover for international espionage.
I’m beginning to be a little skeptical about all these supposed “weddings” that get hit. How many does that make this?
The last time something like this was going around was in the days after Seal Team Six shot OBL in the face. Online jihadis were spreading a rumor that a wedding had been blown up the same day – yet the news wasn’t covering it. So how did they hear about it then? They made it up of course.
That kinda makes me think all the other reports about weddings being hit are just as bogus.
Either the terrrorists say that when we attack them it was a wedding when it was really a terrorist get together, or they’re completely made up stories. I don’t care who files the report.
” U.S. drone mistakenly targeted a wedding convoy in Yemen’s al-Baitha province after intelligence reports identified the vehicles as carrying al Qaeda militants, two Yemeni national security officials told CNN on Thursday.”
How the hell do the Yemeni officials know? Duh! Someone TOLD them it was a wedding procession and not terrorists.
We drone based upon humint. We don’t just look around for anything fishy to blast. That means we were TOLD it was terrorists. So they’re lying about it having been a wedding procession. Either those who reproted it to the government was lying or the person in the government who reported it to CNN was lying.
They could also be lying about there having been any attack at all.
You’d think the tribal leaders would KNOW not to do stuff that would attract a random drone strike
Caevat. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the HUMINT was a double agent and the wedding was real.
A double agent would have lied to US forces so they would drone the wedding and thus foster anti US and anti Drone sentiment.
We all know terrorists have no problem killing civilians for purposes civilized people would consider too trivial to take human life to achieve.
The terrorists and their agents in our countries despise the drone program because it fights them according to OUR playbook. They want us to either not fight them or to have a large footprint in musilm countries so they can say we are attacking islam in general or are invaders – so as to get more muslims to support the cause.
The drone progam allows us to fight them without having a large footprint.
They hate the drone program because it targets leadership instead of the easily replacable canon fodder, thus making their recruitment network less valuable.
It fights them in the way they DON’T want us to fight them. That’s why their agents and leftist allies try get us to stop the program.