Officials in Yemen confirmed on Friday that a US-led drone strike in the southern province of al-Bayda, which is believed to be a stronghold of al-Qaeda in the region, took down a reported four terror militants, including a top al-Qaeda leader, Qayib al-Dhahab, from the Dhahad clan.
"Qayid al-Dhahab, chief of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in al-Bayda province, was killed along with two of his bodyguards by missiles of a US drone this morning," Xinhua quoted local security official as saying.
Security sources explained that its intelligence services knew that a meeting would take place in Rada'a and in the light of such information a tactical strike was set up and carried out.
While officials have put estimated the death toll at four militants, tribal sources said that five men were killed in the strike, not specifying whether the casualties were believed to be civilians or not.
There has been in the past a great number of contradictory death reports following drone attacks, with the US and the Yemeni government playing down civilians' death and collateral damages. The difficult task of identifying bodies has added to the lack of transparency and thus controversy.
This new strike comes a day after al-Qaeda attempted to storm a police station in the southern province of Abyan in a bid to regain some of its lost ground against Sana'a central government.