US drone attacks in Yemen have risen to 53 this year, compared to 18 last year A US drone strike has killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants in the central Yemen province of al-Bayda, in the fourth such attack in a week, a local official said on Sunday. The unmanned plane fired missiles at a vehicle near the village of al-Manaseh, in the area of Rada, late on Saturday, the official said.
Among those who died was prominent local militant Saleh Mohammed al-Ameri, the official said, adding that two other militants were killed and two were wounded.
On Friday, a US drone strike killed two suspected members of al-Qaeda in the town of Shehr in the eastern province of Hadramawt.
This followed a similar operation last Monday when six other suspected members of al-Qaeda, including a Jordanian, were killed in separate strikes in Rada and Shehr.
US drones have backed Yemeni forces combating militants of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group's Yemen branch, considered by Washington to be the most active and deadliest franchise of the global jihadist network.
The Washington-based think tank New America Foundation said on Thursday that US drone attacks in Yemen have risen to 53 this year, compared to 18 last year.
AQAP took advantage of the weakness of Yemen's central government during an uprising last year against now ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, seizing large swathes of territory across the south.
But after a month-long offensive launched in May by Yemeni troops, most militants fled to the more lawless desert regions of the east.
Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen has offered to pay a hefty sum to anyone who kills the US ambassador in Sanaa, or an American soldier in the country, according to the Associated Press.
An audio message produced by the group's media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation offered three kilograms of gold worth $160,000 for killing the ambassador, Gerald Feierstein.
The bounties were set to "inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad," the statement said. The offer is valid for six months. Washington has refused to comment on the developments.
Source: AFP, Associated Press