Al-Majalah camp attack | |
---|---|
Part of the al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen | |
Type | Airstrike |
Location |
al-Majalah, Abyan Governorate, Yemen 13°58′19″N 46°27′43″E / 13.972°N 46.462°E |
Target | AQAP (U.S. claim) |
Date | 17 December 2009 |
Executed by |
![]() |
Casualties | 55 (including 14 women and 21 children) killed |
The al-Majalah camp attack also referred to as the al-Majalah massacre ccurred on December 17, 2009 when the United States military launched Tomahawk cruise missiles from a ship off the Yemeni coast on a Bedouin camp in the southern village of al-Majalah in Yemen, killing 14 alleged Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and 41 civilians, including 14 women and 21 children.
The al-Majalah camp attack took place on December 17, 2009, when United States launched cruise missiles at the site. Initially, both the U.S. and Yemeni governments denied U.S. involvement in the strikes, despite accusations from Amnesty International. Several months after the attack in Al Majalah, Amnesty International released photos showing an American cluster bomb and a propulsion unit from a Tomahawk cruise missile. A subsequent inquiry by the Yemeni parliament found that fourteen Al Qaeda fighters had been killed—along with forty-one civilians, including twenty-three children.
A primary target in the attacks — Qasim al-Raymi, the al-Qaeda leader who was believed to be behind a 2007 bombing in central Yemen, that killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis — survived the attack.