Terrorist rights group says US targeted women and children with cruise missile in Yemen

BBC:

American missiles were used in a raid against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen in which women and children died in December, rights group Amnesty International says.

Amnesty has released images taken after the raid that it says show remnants of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile.

Cluster bombs were also apparently used in the attack, which Amnesty described as "grossly irresponsible".

The US has said its troops gave support for the raid, in Abyan province.

But Yemeni officials have denied any US involvement.

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On 17 December two attacks on militant targets were said to have killed more than 30 militants The raids were hailed as a big success in Yemen.

US President Barack Obama telephoned his Yemeni counterpart, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, to offer his congratulations.

But Amnesty now says the US in fact supported the raid with cruise missiles.

"A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful," said Amnesty's Philip Luther.

"The fact that so many of the victims were actually women and children indicates that the attack was in fact grossly irresponsible, particularly given the likely use of cluster munitions."

Unnamed US officials have said that elite US troops provided essential support, contradicting Yemeni government claims that it was entirely their operation, says the BBC's Sebastian Usher.

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The US is going after groups that deliberately target noncombatants. It appears that these groups also use women and children as human shields in hopes that groups like Amnesty will prevent the US and its allies from attacking them. It is pushing a lawfare agenda that would make it impossible for anyone to effectively respond to the terror they are trying to inflict on the world. It is not like the special ops guys can just deliver a warrant for their arrest.