Drone

FOIA Request for Records Relating to Missile Strike on Al-Majalah, Yemen

Last Update: October 11, 2013

What's at Stake

On April 17, 2012, the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information about a December 2009 U.S. missile strike in the al-Majalah region of the Abyan province of Yemen.

The attack, which was the Obama administration’s first known missile strike in Yemen, apparently targeted alleged “militants” but killed dozens of civilians, including at least 21 children. The U.S. government has yet to release basic information about the strike.

The request seeks information about the legal and factual basis for the al-Majalah strike, whether the government knew that civilians, including children, were present, and what steps it has taken to investigate the attack or compensate injured survivors and victims’ family members. The request also seeks information concerning the U.S. government’s efforts to conceal its responsibility for the strike.

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