Abdullah Muhammad al-Tisi of Yakla holds a photo of his son Ali Abdullah Mohammed al-Tisi, who was killed in a US drone strike outside Rad`a, Yemen on December 12, 2013.

© 2013 Human Rights Watch




Four Hellfire missiles struck an 11-vehicle procession transporting the newlyweds to the groom’s village outside the central Yemeni city of Rad’a, destroying a pickup truck and damaging nearby vehicles. Witnesses and a Yemeni government source said three or four men fled the truck before it was struck. US and Yemeni officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the target was on Yemen’s “most-wanted terrorist” list and was wounded but escaped. A Yemeni government official said that another man who fled was also on Yemen’s “most-wanted terrorist” list.

The US has not officially acknowledged the strike. Neither the US nor Yemen has offered specific information, such as drone video footage, to support their assertions about the circumstances or the targets.


“The actions of local authorities, coupled with accounts of witnesses, suggest that at least some of those killed and wounded were civilians,” Tayler said. “If the procession included members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the United States needs to explain who they were and why they were lawful targets.”

In his May announcement on targeted killings, Obama also said US policy required “near-certainty” that the target is present, poses a “continuing and imminent” threat to the US, and could not feasibly be arrested. Human Rights Watch said the US has not shown that the attack met these criteria.

The attack on the wedding procession also may have violated the laws of war by failing to discriminate between combatants and civilians, or by causing civilian loss disproportionate to the expected military advantage. The US should investigate and publish its findings on any laws-of-war violations.

Had members of AQAP deliberately joined the wedding procession to avoid attack, they would have been committing the laws-of-war violation of using “human shields.” That would not, however, justify an indiscriminate or disproportionate attack by US forces.

“Rather than instilling confidence that its targeted killings are lawful and adhere to US policy, the Obama administration’s silence is magnifying concerns,” Tayler said. “The US failure to address any harm to civilians also risks turning Yemeni allies into enemies.”