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Drone strike kills 5 people in southern Yemen

Wednesday, 24 August 2016 5:13 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 24 August 2016 7:43 PM ]

The file photo shows a US Predator B drone. ©AP

A US drone strike has left five people claimed to be suspected al-Qaeda militants dead in southern Yemen.

Yemeni witnesses said the victims were killed after their vehicle was completely destroyed in the US drone attack in Shabwah province on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an unnamed Yemeni security official said the suspected al-Qaeda militants were heading from the Shabwah provincial capital city of Ataq to the nearby town of Nisab.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has taken advantage of the chaos and the breakdown of security in Yemen to tighten its grip on the southern and southeastern parts of the impoverished crisis-stricken country.

The US carries out drone attacks in Yemen and several other countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Washington claims its drones target al-Qaeda militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

The drone attacks in Yemen have continued alongside the Saudi military aggression against the Arab country.

Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at about 10,000. The offensive was launched to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its allies and reinstate the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The Houthis took state matters into their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi, which threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown there.

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