Al-Qaeda in Yemen threatened today to hit back at the authorities after a wave of deadly drone attacks in the latest government offencive against the jihadists.
The warning from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula chief Qassem al-Rimi came in a video posted online.
Rimi said AQAP -- which Washington sees as the deadliest branch of the Al-Qaeda franchise -- would attack "any establishment, ministry, camp or barracks" linked to placing devices on vehicles to enable them to be targeted by US drones "or for acting as an intermediary with the Americans".
"For us, all such establishments are legitimate targets. We won't wait for them to come to us -- we will go to them," he said.
Rimi said his group had "a long list of those implicated in such operations... Who will pay the price".
AQAP fighters are frequently targeted by US-operated drones in Yemen, whose use has been defended by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
The militants have launched a series of spectacular raids over past months, including targeting an army headquarters in the southern port of Aden last month in an attack that killed 20 people.
AQAP said it attacked the intelligence complex because of its role in coordinating US drone attacks.
The group has been the target of an intensifying drone war this year.
Only the United States operates such warplanes in the region.
On Tuesday, the army began an offencive against AQAP hideouts, mainly in the south where the militants are strongly rooted.
Soldiers backed by warplanes today killed five suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the Maifaa region of Shabwa province in southern Yemen, state news agency Saba reported.
It said dozens of militants were wounded and three of their vehicles destroyed, including one loaded with anti-aircraft rockets.
A total of 27 suspected Al-Qaeda fighters and 24 soldiers have now been killed since the operation was launched, according to security and medical sources.
