"In the past three months, US forces have targeted and disrupted the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorist network in Yemen through 17 counter-terrorism airstrikes in four separate governorates," the release said on Wednesday.
The release added that a credibility assessment is being conducted after reports surfaced that there were causalities following the airstrikes conducted against the terrorist group in the al Bayda governorate on March 29.
Other airstrikes took place in April against AQAP targets in the Hadramawt, Zamakh and Shabwah governorates, which took out a training camp and a checkpoint for asserting regional control.
The terrorist network is taking advantage of the situation in Yemen to use the country as a safe haven as it conducts operations to inspire terror attacks against the United States, its citizens and allies, the release said.
Yemen has long been engulfed in the armed conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015. Multiple human rights organizations have criticized the coalition for indiscriminate bombings which result in civilian casualties.
