Dubai: A suspected US drone strike killed four alleged Al-Qaeda jihadists in central Yemen on Tuesday, a security official in the area said.
The strike targeted the men’s vehicle as they were heading to a farm in Marib province, according to the official, who did not want to be named.
The United States considers Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the radical group’s most dangerous branch.
A long-running US drone war against AQAP has intensified since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.
AQAP and other jihadist groups have flourished in the chaos of the country’s civil war, which pits the government – backed by a Saudi-led military coalition – against Shiite Huthi rebels.
On Sunday, four suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Bayda province, a local official told AFP.
The more than four-year conflict in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.
The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 3.3 million people still displaced and 24.1 million – more than two-thirds of the population – in need of aid.
The launch of a ballistic missile towards Riyadh in November 2017 prompted the Saudi-led coalition to tighten its blockade of Yemen.
