A Saudi and a Kuwaiti are among four suspected al Qaeda members killed by an American drone strike in south-eastern Yemen, a local official said on Friday. The dawn strike targeted their car as it left the base of the 27th Mechanised Brigade in the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, the official told AFP.
Fighters from the Sunni extremist group seized the camp from forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in April, consolidating their grip on Mukalla. They have exploited months of fighting between Hadi loyalists and Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels to consolidate their grip on Yemen's south-east. The official identified the victims as Shuaib al-Maliki of Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti Abdul Aziz al-Otaibi, along with two Yemenis.
Their deaths bring to 13 the number of suspected al Qaeda militants killed by similar strikes in Yemen over the past 10 days, and follows the death of the second-in-command of al Qaeda's global network. The group confirmed on June 16 the killing by an American drone strike of Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who headed al Qaeda's Yemen branch.
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