Aden (South24) 

A suspected U.S. drone strike on Sunday killed three people in central Yemen, including two suspected Al Qaeda extremists, local government officials said.

“An allegedly American drone targeted a car carrying a man, who is probably a member of Al Qaeda, and his wife, wounding them both,” a government official told AFP, who requested anonymity.

“Three people, a civilian and two armed men suspected of Al Qaeda, who were in a vehicle heading towards the site to assist the wounded were the target of another strike and killed.”

A second government official in the border region between the central provinces of Shabwa and al-Bayda confirmed the two strikes and the death toll.

Local sources told "South24", on Friday evening, that they saw drones flying over the border area separating Yafa region and Al-Bayda Governorate.

The United States considers al-Qaeda in Yemen – al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – the most dangerous faction in the global extremist network.

A long American drone war against AQAP intensified after ex-President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

AQAP and other militants loyal to ISIS have thrived in the chaos of the civil war in Yemen that pits the internationally recognized government against the Iran-backed Houthis.

In 2021, AQAP carried out several operations against the pro-STC Security Belt Forces in Abyan and Shabwa. 

Al-Qaeda leader Khaled Batarfi had appeared in a recorded video, on Friday, in which he attacked the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Southern forces and the Houthis.

Read also: AQAP Leader Attacks Southern Forces and Accuses Them of Returning to «Atheism»

AQAP lives in a state of fragmentation, weakness and ineffectiveness after receiving painful blows at the hands of the Southern security forces, with the support of the Arab Coalition and the UAE, during the past years.

Previous UN and US reports praised the prominent role played by the UAE-trained security forces in South Yemen, and were able within a short period of time to secure all areas of South Yemen in Abyan, Shabwa and Mukalla, before these gains were reflected in Shabwa, after the pro-Islamist Islah forces took control of it in August 2019.

In March and April of this year, AQAP announced its responsibility for attacks on security checkpoints by the STC-affiliated Security Belt Forces, in Abyan governorate, which left dozens of victims. 

Sources: AFP & South24

Graffiti protesting US drone strikes seen in September in Sanaa, Yemen. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images