Aden: Three suspected Al Qaida members were killed in an apparent US drone strike in Yemen’s Al Qaida-held southeastern port city of Al Mukalla, a local official told AFP on Wednesday.
The drone “fired four missiles at three Al Qaida militants” near Al Mukalla port late Tuesday, killing them on the spot, said the official.
A “leading figure” within Al Qaida was among the dead, the official said, without naming him.
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has exploited months of fighting in Yemen between Iran-backed Al Houthi militants and their Saudi-backed rivals to consolidate its grip on Hadramout’s provincial capital Al Mukalla - a city of more than 200,000.
The United States considers AQAP the extremist group’s deadliest global franchise and regularly targets its militants with armed drone strikes on Yemeni territory.
It is the only government that operates the unmanned aircraft over the impoverished country.
Saudi Arabia and its regional allies have been carrying out air strikes on the Al Houthi militants since late March to try to restore exiled President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.
In the south’s main city of Aden, intense fighting has raged since Tuesday between Al Houthi militants and so-called Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes and southern separatists.
At least 22 people were killed over 24 hours in the clashes and in Saudi-led air strikes, said Ali Al Ahmadi, spokesman of the Popular Resistance leadership.
Most of the fighting took place near Buraiqa, a strategic sector of the city that houses an oil refinery and the port.
Residents of another residential area accused Al Houthi militiamen and allied troops of ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of destroying several homes in rocket shelling, but there was no immediate casualty toll.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in fighting across Yemen and air raids since March.
