U.S. Officers Kill Armed Civilians in Yemen Capital

[uhnope]

Source: NY TIMES

WASHINGTON — A United States Special Operations commando and a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Yemen shot and killed two armed Yemeni civilians who tried to kidnap them while the Americans were in a barber shop in the country’s capital two weeks ago, American officials said on Friday.

The two Americans were whisked out of the volatile Middle East nation within a few days of the shooting, with the blessing of the Yemeni government, two senior American officials said.

News of the shootings comes at a perilous moment for the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whose collaboration with American drone strikes against suspected Al Qaeda militants is already a subject of seething resentment here. Yemenis believe, with some evidence, that the drone strikes often kill nearby civilians as well as their targets, so any indication that Mr. Hadi’s government helped conceal the killing of Yemenis by American commandos could be explosive.

Violence in the country is increasing, and on Friday, militants attacked the presidential palace, apparently in retaliation for the government’s roughly 10-day offensive against Al Qaeda strongholds.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/world/middleeast/us-officers-kill-armed-civilians-in-yemen-capital.html?emc=edit_na_20140509&nlid=62779368

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. "Yemenis believe, with some evidence, that the drone strikes often kill nearby civilians..."

And they don't like that their own government is down with it.

"...so any indication that Mr. Hadi’s government helped conceal the killing of Yemenis by American commandos could be explosive."

[seveneyes]

2. retaliation for the government’s roughly 10-day offensive against Al Qaeda strongholds

Isn't that just special. Militants attacked the presidential palace in support of the terrorists.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. "US Suspends Public Operations at Embassy in Yemen"

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/07/world/africa/yemen-unrest/

Citing recent attacks, the United States on Wednesday announced that it has suspended public services at its embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.

"Due to recent attacks against Western interests in Yemen, we have temporarily suspended operations of our Embassy in Sana'a to the public," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. "We continue to evaluate the security situation every day, and we will reopen the embassy to the public once it is deemed appropriate." She described the move as a "precautionary step."

The temporary suspension of operations is due to a reemergence of a threat from several weeks ago that the United States thought it had disrupted, according to a U.S. official with specific understanding of the current situation. A credible threat to the U.S. Embassy emerged around March, the official said, in the same time frame that a video appeared showing some 100 al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, including several who had broken out of jail the month before.

The United States thought that threat had been disrupted by a number of Yemeni actions, including, but not directly related to a series of U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni military operations in early April. But in recent days, the threat stream has reemerged, the official said. It is currently assessed to be credible and somewhat specific in terms of the embassy being the target, according to the source. The United States is still attempting to corroborate the threat and determine whether there is a specific time and date, as well as any other specific locations.

<snip>

[L0oniX]

4. Breaking: Armed Russian officers kill civilians ...at the Bundy ranch.

[Lurks Often]

5. Oops, very poor victim selection skills n/t

[IronGate]

6. Uh Oh!!!

Kinda picked on the wrong people.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.