A U.S. drone strike in south Yemen on Thursday has killed a top Al-Qaeda commander, according to a family member, Agence France-Presse reported.
The chief, identified as Jalal Baleedi a.k.a. Abu Hamza, was a top leader of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - a terrorist organization active in the war-torn country.
Baleedi was believed to have been the mastermind behind the group's terrorist attacks on the Yemeni state that have claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and security forces amid the ongoing civil war in the country. Baleedi was also suspected of defecting from AQAP to lead Islamic State's Yemen operations.
The airstrike targeted a car carrying Baleedi and five others in the Maraqesha area of Yemen's Abyan province. Six other Al-Qaeda militants were killed in a separate drone strike carried out in Shabwa province's al Rawda city - a remote desert location Al-Qaeda militants have been known to operate from - according to Reuters.
The United States has been carrying out a series of drone strikes targeting jihadists during the ongoing war between forces loyal to the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Iran-backed Houthis, according to The Independent.
