Yemen Drone Strike Kills Three 'Qaida' Suspects

A drone strike in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province killed three al-Qaida suspects on Tuesday, local authority officials said.

The three men were travelling in the Wadi Houaira area when a missile hit their vehicle, the sources said.

No further details on the strike were yet available.

The United States is the only country that operates drones in the region.

The number of victims from the drone strikes in Yemen remains unclear and estimates vary widely.

According to the Washington-based New America Foundation, a think tank that tracks and vets drone activity, 93 strikes in Yemen since 2002 have killed 684 to 891 people including between 64 and 66 civilians.

Yemen is the ancestral home of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and the home base of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which the U.S. views as the global jihadist network's most dangerous franchise.

AQAP took advantage of a decline in central government control during Yemen's 2011 uprising -- which eventually forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power -- to seize large swathes of territory across the south.

The militants were driven back in June 2012 and the group has been weakened by U.S. drone strikes.

But AQAP remains active in southern and eastern Yemen, and regularly carries out hit-and-run attacks on security forces.