Two Al Qaeda men killed in US drone strike

A US drone strike killed two suspected Al Qaeda militants in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf Wednesday.

The airstrike targeted a car, killing two people in Khalek district, a desert area adjacent to the central province of Marib, a security official told Xinhua.

"The targeted men were believed to be affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the official said .

On Monday, a US drone strike killed a suspected Al Qaeda militant in Marib, while another such strike killed three other suspected militants in the eastern province of Shabwa.

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.

Last week, the White House pledged to continue to support the counter-terrorism efforts of Hadi's government, aiming to uproot the Al Qaeda group in Yemen.

However, critics of the US government said the drone strikes often violate international law and cause heavy civilian casualties.

In December 2013, a US drone strike mistakenly hit a wedding party in Yemen's southeastern province of al-Bayda, killing up to 11 Yemeni civilians and wounding 21 others.