US drone strike kills three Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen's jihadi stronghold of Shabwa

Aden (Yemen): A US drone strike has killed three suspected members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Shabwa province, a jihadi stronghold in the south, a security official said on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_3074772” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The strike hit a vehicle in Saeed district late on 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.