In one of the over hundred airstrikes against AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), about 50 ISIS fighters were killed in U.S. military airstrikes in Yemen targeting two training camps in the country’s central region, ABC reports.
One of the camps gained notoriety last week as the scene of an ISIS training video which showed images of ISIS recruits appearing to be kicked in the groin to demonstrate their physical toughness.
The Pentagon in a statement said, “U.S. forces killed dozens of ISIS members in a strike on two ISIS training camps, Oct. 16, in Al Bayda Governorate, Yemen, disrupting the organisation’s attempts to train new fighter.
“ISIS used the camps to train militants to conduct terror attacks using AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and endurance training,” it added.
According to a U.S. official, the American airstrikes were the first targeting ISIS in Yemen, the popular seat of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), adding that both manned and unmanned aircraft were involved in Monday’s airstrikes against the two ISIS camps that were about 20 miles apart.
“Strikes against ISIS targets disrupt and destroy militants’ attack-plotting efforts, leadership networks, and freedom of maneuver within the region,” said the Pentagon statement.
“ISIS has used the ungoverned spaces of Yemen to plot, direct, instigate, resource and recruit for attacks against America and its allies around the world. For years, Yemen has been a hub for terrorist recruiting, training and transit”, the statement added.
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