Aden (South24 Center)

A man suspected of links to AQAP was killed on Thursday, February 12, in a drone strike that targeted a vehicle on the corniche of Al-Ghayda, the capital of Al-Mahra governorate in southeastern Yemen, according to local and security sources.

Local sources reported hearing a loud explosion near the corniche before security officials confirmed that a vehicle had been struck, killing the person inside.

Circulating videos on social media showed the vehicle ablaze at the scene, while security forces established a cordon and launched an investigation. According to security sources, the deceased is identified as Abdushakur Ali, a Somali national and a member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab movement.

Experts on militant organizations told South24 that the man is also known as Jabir Yahye Ali Ahmad, alias “Jabir Gacamey,” and is believed to have served as a foreign liaison and weapons procurement operative within Al-Shabaab. The sources said he had recently entered Yemen through a neighboring country using multiple identities, though reports differ on whether he arrived via Al-Ghayda Airport, by land from the Sultanate of Oman, or by sea.

Somali media sources also reported that he had obtained a Yemeni passport issued in Sanaa.

According to specialists monitoring militant networks in the Horn of Africa, the operative was linked to cross-border weapons procurement and logistics routes connecting facilitators in Yemen with Al-Shabaab networks across the Gulf of Aden. UN monitoring reports have previously documented maritime trafficking corridors through which intermediaries based in Puntland supplied weapons to armed groups in Somalia, including Al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia.

Security information suggested the strike may have been carried out using an AGM-114R9X missile, known as the “Ninja”, which is designed to limit collateral damage by using kinetic blades rather than an explosive warhead.

On February 12, a security source reported a drone explosion on the outskirts of Al-Ghayda city, confirming that specialized agencies had begun investigating the circumstances of the incident. No official statement has been issued by Yemeni or U.S. authorities regarding the nature of the operation or the entity responsible.

The incident comes after Saudi-backed forces took control of Al-Mahra and Hadramout earlier this year, while Southern forces withdrew following Saudi airstrikes. Warnings have since grown over a possible resurgence of Al-Qaeda activity and concerns that counterterrorism efforts conducted by the Southern Armed Forces could be undermined. Over the past decade, these forces achieved significant gains against Al-Qaeda and ISIS in southern Yemen with direct support from the United Arab Emirates.