U.S airstrikes devastate Al-Qaeda in Yemen, kill key commanders

The United States has carried out eight airstrikes targeting al-Qaeda in Yemen this year, the US Central Command said in a statement on Monday.
The airstrikes took place in Bayda and Marib provinces where two airstrikes were carried in January while six in March.
US officials have said that one of the airstrikes in January killed al-Qaeda commander Jamal al-Badawi who is the main plotter of the bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in Aden in 2000.
A field source from Yemen told Muraselon News that three military commanders of al-Qaeda in Yemen have been killed in an airstrike carried out by a US drone in late March which targeted their hide-out in the north-western parts of Bayda province.
The source added that the three commanders identified as Abu Ammar al-Hadrami, Abu Abdallah al-Monzari and Abu Yousef al-Fahtani.
The US carried out a total of 36 air strikes against al-Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen last year. Those strikes were in mostly in Bayda, Abyn, Hadramawt and Shabwa – the US has said.