Five al-Qaeda members have been killed in a drone strike, possibly American, in Yemen’s Hadhramaut region on Saturday, Al Arabiya TV reported. Meanwhile, 15 people were killed in a suicide attack that targeted a funeral in the country.
A local official who requested anonymity told AFP that that “a drone fired two missiles at an all-terrain vehicle... killing its five occupants, all members of al-Qaeda.”
The United States is believed to have regularly used drones to target al-Qaeda members in Yemen, as in Afghanistan and Somalia.
The raid was carried out near the village of al-Qotn in Hadramout, the official added.
Witnesses said that security forces were deployed and sealed off the attack zone.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has said that U.S. drones has recorded between 35 and 45 attacks in Yemen, 337 in Pakistan, and nine in Somalia.
Al-Qaeda militants have carried out several deadly attacks against Yemeni security services since President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who has repeatedly vowed to battle extremists, came to power this year.
In July, Yemen announced it had placed its security services on high alert to prevent “terrorist” attacks after it uncovered a plot to launch assaults against security and military checkpoints.
The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is believed to be the most effective and lethal branch of the global network.
In another development, a suicide bomber killed a at least 15 people attending the funeral of a member of local popular committees fighting al-Qaeda in the south of the country.
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