Marib: A US drone strike has killed two suspected members of Al Qaida east of the Yemeni capital, a local official said on Tuesday.
“Two members of Al Qaida were killed when a missile from a US drone hit their vehicle” on the outskirts of the city of Marib during the night, the official said.
Marib province has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks as forces loyal to exiled President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi press an offensive against Al Houthi militia with the support of Saudi-led troops.
Washington has waged a long-standing drone war against Al Qaida’s Yemen-based branch, which it regards as the militant network’s most dangerous.
The strikes have continued alongside the Saudi-led military intervention which began in March against the Al Houthi insurgents who control the capital.
Al Qaida said in June that its leader in Yemen, Nasser Al Wuhayshi, had been killed by a US drone.
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) controls parts of the vast southeastern province of Hadramawt, including the provincial capital Mukalla, which they seized in April.
On Monday the militants angered Mukalla residents by razing tombs in an old cemetery, according to an official in the coastal city.
“Some of these tombs are for religious dignitaries and are 300 years old,” the official said.
Al Qaida and its extremist rival, Daesh, regard the reverence of tombs as tantamount to idolatry.
Al Qaida terrorists have also stirred discontent after selling 1,000 barrels of crude oil stocked in a port near Mukalla to a local merchant.
AQAP members in Mukalla released a statement defending their action, saying a local council made of dignitaries had been “incapable” of running the city.
