An MQ-1 Predator crashed in south Yemen on Tuesday. It came down in Jahayn village near Loder, in Yemen’s Abyan province where Al-Qaeda has a strong presence. It was found by local residents who called in police, who then collected the wreckage. But as they headed to a police station about 30 kilometers (18 miles) away, Al-Qaeda gunmen in cars intercepted the police and hijacked the wreckage.
The plane was monitoring the movements of Al-Qaeda partisans, who have a strong presence in Loder. Government forces and Al-Qaeda militants fought a deadly battle in Loder in late August in which at least 33 people — 19 militants, 11 soldiers, and three civilians — were killed
According to information from the US Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps, three other MQ-1B aircraft have been lost in Fiscal 2010 – see list here.