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U.S. drone strike kills six al-Qaida members in Yemen

Xinhua, February 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Six members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone fired missiles on their car in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa early on Thursday, an intelligence officer told Xinhua.

Two missiles hit the car, "killing six operatives of the terrorist group killed including senior commanders, " the military intelligence officer, based in Shabwa province, said on condition of anonymity.

According to the intelligence officer, the U.S. air bombing occurred in a rugged road in the Radhum area of southeastern Shabwa province in the early hours of Thursday.

The source added that commanders of the al-Qaida terrorist group were among the dead but he gave no further details.

A local resident old Xinhua over the phone that "plumes of smokes were seen rising from miles following a huge explosion that rocked Radhum area."

A Shabwa-based government official told Xinhua in an exclusive phone interview that "initial reports indicate that the leader of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State group Jalal Baleidi was amongst the killed in today's U.S. airstrike."

The drone strike took place just three days after scores of militants of the al-Qaida seized the town of Azzan in Shabwa province without armed confrontations and established several checkpoints around the town's main entrances.

Last December, hundreds of gunmen of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took full control over two strategic towns in neighboring southern Abyan province, about 45 km from Aden,Yemen's temporary capital.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current civil war to expand its influence in Yemen's southern regions.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Endit