A suspected US drone strike killed four alleged Al-Qaeda operatives in central Yemen on Tuesday, a security official in the area have confirmed.
According to the source, the drone strike targeted the men’s vehicle as they were heading Marib province.
The United States considers Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the extremist group’s most dangerous branch. A long-running US drone war against AQAP has intensified since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017 whereby dozens of AQAP’s operatives have so far been killed.
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 Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Bayda province. The more than four-year conflict in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies reports.
