Drone kills 7 Al-Qaeda suspects in southern Yemen

ADEN: A drone strike has killed seven suspected members of Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.

The US is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

The official said an overnight drone attack, “likely American,” targeted three vehicles on the road from the southern province of Shabwa to the central province of Bayda, killing the seven suspected jihadists.

In the southern province of Lahj, a suspected local leader of Al-Qaeda and a policeman were killed in a shoot-out as security forces raided the alleged terrorist’s home to arrest him, a security official said.

Another suspected terrorist was also arrested in the raid in the Al-Wahat area, Lahj security director Saleh Said said in a statement.

Washington considers the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the radical group’s most dangerous branch.

A long-running drone war against AQAP has intensified since US President Donald Trump took office in January.

AQAP has flourished in the chaos of the country’s civil war, which pits the government against the Houthi militias.

Al-Qaeda’s terrorist rivals, Daesh, have also carried out several deadly attacks in the country.

Last month, the US said it had killed dozens of Daesh fighters at training camps in Bayda.

Also on Sunday, officials said a ship carrying 5,500 tons of flour docked in Yemen’s Hodeidah port in the Red Sea on Sunday, the first after more than two weeks of a blockade by the Arab coalition fighting the Houthi movement.

Aid delivery

The delivery is the first aid to arrive through Hodeidah port, controlled by the Houthis, after the coalition allowed a flight carrying humanitarian aid workers to Sanaa on Saturday.

“The ship is 106 meters long and carries 5,500 tons of flour,” one of the Yemeni officials said.

Aid agencies said the blockade had worsened the humanitarian crisis in Yemen where the war has left an estimated 7 million people facing famine and killed more than 10,000 people.

The coalition gave clearance for UN flights in and out of Sanaa from Amman on Saturday, involving the regular rotation of aid workers.

After re-opening Sanaa airport, the UN child agency (UNICEF) has also sent vaccines there. UNICEF said on Sunday that it had flown 1.9 million doses of vaccines to Yemen

Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the reopening of Sanaa airport but said that much more aid was needed.