TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Yemeni parliament approve a ban on US drone strikes last Sunday after hundreds of civilians were killed by drone attacks.
The US drones attacked a group of people who was going to a wedding last Thursday. As many as 17 people killed and 21 others injured.
"The parliament stressed the importance of protecting innocent citizens from any airstrike as well as preserving Yemen's sovereignty," a statement from the parliament said as quoted by Yemeni news agency, Saba.
Washington has increased its drone strikes intensity on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) networks since the reign of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who replaced Ali Abdullah Saleh on February 2012.
However, in the last two years, US drone strikes often hit the wrong target and killed many civilians. Human rights activists noted one of the incidents related to US drone strike on December 17, 2009 where five US missiles destroyed a whole village.
The Yemeni government initially said that the 34 killed were terrorists. However, further investigation showed that from the total number of victims, only 14 were suspect of al-Qaeda members, while the rest 41 victims were civilians, including nine women and 21 children.
According to Wired.com, US has carried out two drone operations in Yemen. One is controlled by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the other one is by the Joint Special Operations Command.
XINHUA | GULFNEWS | MUSLIM MATTERS.ORG | NATALIA SANTI
