Suspected Qaida Militant Killed in Yemen Drone Strike

A suspected al-Qaida member died on Thursday in a drone strike on a region of Yemen hit by multiple U.S. air raids over the past week, a security source said.

The drone targeted Qassem Khalil, an Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militant, near the town of Wadia in the southern province of Abyan, the source said.

Since March 2, the U.S. has launched dozens of strikes against AQAP targets in Abyan and the neighboring provinces of Shabwa and Baida as it steps up its air war against the jihadists. 

In the first three days of the strikes at least 22 suspected AQAP fighters were killed, security officials and tribal sources have said. 

More than two years of civil war between government forces and Shiite rebels who control the capital have created a power vacuum which AQAP has exploited to consolidate its presence in the south and east.

Washington regards AQAP as the jihadist network's most dangerous arm and says that in recent months it has been plotting attacks on the West.