Last week U.S. officials acknowledged that a missile strike on September 2 had been carried out by U.S. forces and had killed civilians. Previously, the government of Yemen had claimed responsibility for the strike, and said the deceased were militants.

Evidently there has been some understanding whereby the Yemeni government is expected to take responsibility for U.S. missile strikes. According to WikiLeaks, the Yemeni dictator told General Petraeus at the end of 2009: “We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.”

A local official says relatives of the deceased have since joined the militants.