Drone strike kills 3 Qaeda suspects in Yemen

Yemenis gather around a burnt car after it was targeted by a drone strike killing three suspected al-Qaeda militants in January last year. (AFP)

ADEN: A US drone strike has killed three suspected members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Shabwa province, a jihadist stronghold in the south, a security official said on Saturday.
The strike hit a vehicle in Saeed district late Friday killing the driver and both passengers, the official said.
Washington considers Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch to be its most dangerous and has conducted a long-running drone war against its leaders.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the campaign has intensified.
Last month, US commandos conducted a ground raid on an Al-Qaeda headquarters compound in Marib province, further north, killing at least seven militants in a fight that left several US troops wounded.
For more than two years, Yemen has been locked in a devastating civil war between the Saudi-backed government and Shiite rebels who control the capital.
Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the conflict to expand its presence in several areas of southern and eastern Yemen under the nominal control of the government and its allies in a Saudi-led military coalition.