Drone attack kills four Al-Qaeda militants in E. Yemen

By Zakaria al-Kamaali

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - Four Al-Qaeda militants were killed late Tuesday in a suspected U.S. drone attack in Yemen’s eastern Maarib province.

A Yemeni anti-terrorism official tweeted that the drone had targeted a vehicle carrying four militants in Maarib’s Atran area.

The attack came only hours after another reported drone attack on an Al-Qaeda vehicle in Yemen’s south-central Shabwah province that reportedly left two group members dead.

The U.S. has recently stepped up drone strikes on Al-Qaeda positions in Yemen’s Shabwah, Abyan and Al-Bayda provinces.

Al-Qaeda is said to be in control of Yemen’s city of Mukalla, regional capital of the southern Hadhramaut province, along with parts of Shabwah and Abyan.

In August of last year, the Yemeni government claimed to have recaptured Abyan from the terrorist group.