At least 3 al-Qaida members killed in fresh U.S. drone strike: official

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At least 3 al-Qaida members killed in fresh U.S. drone strike: official

(Xinhua) 08:08, August 09, 2013

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SANAA, Aug. 8 -- A U.S. drone strike killed at least three suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout on Thursday, amid terrorist threat in the Arab country that forced Western countries to withdraw their diplomatic personnel, local officials said.

"The fresh air raid hit a convoy in Al-Eyon district in Hadramout, killing at least three suspected terrorists and injuring two others," an interior ministry official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding that "it was the second deadly U.S. air raid on Thursday."

Earlier in the day, another U.S. drone fired missiles at a car suspected to be carrying al-Qaida militants in the northeast province of Marib, killing at least four people, according to the ministry officials.

They said one Arab national was among the killed in the desert area of Wadi Abida in Marib, some 173 km northeast of the capital Sanaa.

Washington has escalated its drone strike on the al-Qaida network in Yemen since it closed its diplomatic mission in Sanaa on Sunday.

The Yemeni government has boosted security presence around Western embassies in the capital as precautionary measures after the United States and Britain temporarily evacuated their diplomatic staff from Sanaa on Tuesday over alert of possible attacks by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

More than 20 people, including children, were killed by U.S. drone strikes since July, according to the latest figure released by the Yemeni Interior Ministry.

On Monday, the Yemeni government offered a reward of 25,000 U.S. dollars for those who give information leading to the arrest of 25 wanted al-Qaida members.

The list includes Ibrahim al-Rubaish, a Saudi national and former Guantanamo detainee who fled to Yemen in early 2009 and become Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)'s mufti.

AQAP was founded in January 2009 after the merger of Saudi and Yemeni branches.

The network is led by Yemeni militant Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who declared in July 2011 the group's allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of the worldwide al-Qaida network after the killing of its founder Osama bin Laden in 2011.

（Editor：YaoChun、Zhang Qian）