US drone kills two al Qaeda leaders in Yemen

Sana'a, March 11: A US drone strike killed two suspected

leaders in

's central province of Marib on Monday night, a provincial security official said.

"The drone strike this night targeted a car carrying al Qaeda regional leaders Mohammed Jabir al-Shabwani and Abdullah Mubarak bin Hamad in Wadi Abida area of Marib," Xinhua quoted the official as saying while requesting anonymity.

It was fourth drone strike within a week that targets al Qaeda suspects inside Yemen.

On Wednesday, a US unmanned plane hit a vehicle in the Yemeni northern province of al- Jawf and killed at least two suspected Al Qaeda militants. Two days earlier, another drone strike killed a suspected al Qaeda militant in Marib province.

The US has escalated its drone strikes on suspected al Qaeda targets in Yemen since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February 2012 after a UN-backed deal removed former President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

IANS