A US drone struck a pick-up vehicle carrying al-Qaida suspects in Yemen’s central province of Marib on Friday night, a provincial official and residents said. Abu Khaled al-Sanaani, the local commander of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was among the four dead, officials said.
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Officials told Reuters the attack was carried out in Marib province, which is controlled by forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, late Friday. Local officials later said he was a regional commander of the group.
Washington considers al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based franchise to be its most unsafe, and has kept up its drone war throughout the conflict.
One of those killed was reportedly a local commander of the terrorist group.
One security official said jihadists had recently sought refugee in the vicinity following military operations against the extremists in nearby Hadramawt, Abyan and Lahj provinces.
The US drone attack killed Abdullah Sanaani and his bodyguard, who were travelling in a vehicle in al-Sawmah, a town in al-Baydha province, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The conflict in Yemen began in September 2014 when Houthi rebels captured Sanaa.
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“Signature strikes”, in which United States drones attack people simply because they look from the drone’s view like they’re doing something like AQAP would do, has killed a large number of people with no definitive connection to terror. Tensions in the region have displaced some 3 million people.
