US Intensifies Secret War of Yemen Air Raids: NYT

Local Editor

The United States has intensified air raids on suspected militants in Yemen, as the country witnesses in this period a violent conflict. The New York Times cited on Wednesday US officials as saying that a secret war has targeted fighters with armed drones and fighter jets. “The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials”, the daily said. Earlier on Wednesday, Admiral Michael Mullen, the US military commander, said the conflict in the Arabian Peninsula country was making the al-Qaeda terror network more "dangerous". Al-Qaeda in Yemen "has grown into a very virulent deadly federated point in the al-Qaeda organization", the head of the US joint chiefs of staff said in Cairo. "It is incredibly dangerous and made more dangerous in the ongoing chaos." The daily added that Yemeni troops that had been battling fighters linked to al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to Sanaa. The New York Times also quoted officials in Washington as saying that the American and Saudi spy services had been receiving more information, from electronic eavesdropping and informants, about the possible locations of militants. The officials added that the “outbreak of the wider conflict in Yemen created a new risk: that one faction might feed information to the Americans that could trigger air strikes against a rival group”, according to the daily. Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was wounded on Friday and is being treated in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He appears to have been wounded by a bombing at a mosque inside his palace, not a rocket attack as first thought, US and Arab officials told Reuters. There were conflicting reports about his condition - ranging from fairly minor, to life-threatening 40 per cent burns.

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