SANAA - At least six suspected al Qaida members were killed in
a US drone strike in northern Yemen on Wednesday, local sources said, in an
escalating campaign in which at least 20 Islamist militants have died this
week.
The United States never comments on strikes by its pilotless
aircraft, which it has used to track down militants in Yemen for years. The
Yemeni government tolerates such strikes but usually does not comment on the
US role in specific incidents.
Washington has scaled up action against
al Qaida in Yemen, where the group exploited widespread anti-government unrest
in 2011 to seize swathes of territory in the southern part of the country,
before being driven out in a US-backed offensive in June last year.