Suspected US drone strike kills 2 in Yemen

Military officials say a US drone strike has killed two alleged militants in southern Yemen.

A suspected US drone strike has killed two alleged militants in southern Yemen, military officials say, making it the ninth such strike in just two weeks.

The strike in Lahj province wounded two other militants, one of them seriously, the officials said.

The four had been travelling in a car in the area of el-Askariya.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was the first time a US drone fired on this area of Lahj.

In total, there have been nine suspected US drone strikes in Yemen since July 27.

The drone attacks in that two-week period have killed a total of 38 suspected militants in Yemen, which is the Arab world's most impoverished country.

While the US acknowledges its drone program in Yemen, it does not usually talk about individual strikes.

The program is run by the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA, with the military flying its drones out of Djibouti, and the CIA out of a base in Saudi Arabia.

An accelerated use of drone strikes in Yemen under President Barack Obama and a US-backed offensive last year drove militants from territory they had seized a year earlier, during Yemen's political turmoil amid the Arab Spring.

The US recently flew diplomatic staff out of Yemen's capital over fears of a terror attack.


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Source: AAP



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