2 'Qaida' Militants Dead in Yemen Drone Raid

A suspected U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed two al-Qaida militants and destroyed an arms cache on Sunday, a security official and witnesses said.

The raid targeted a house in Wadi Abida, in the central province of Marib, where the two unnamed militants were killed, the official said.

He said an arms cache in the house also exploded.

Witnesses said an unmanned drone conducted the air raid, just like in most U.S. air strikes that target al-Qaida suspects in the Arabian Peninsula nation, which is home to al-Qaida's most active branch.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi.

In July 2011, he reaffirmed AQAP's allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of the worldwide al-Qaida network since the killing of its founder, Osama bin Laden, in May of the same year.

U.S. drones strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared with 2011, from 18 to 53, according to the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.