Two separate air strikes in Yemen's south killed seven suspected militants today, a Yemeni security official said.
The official said three suspected militants were killed when an air strike hit their vehicle north of Ahwar town, in the southern Abyan province. The other airstrike hit a gathering of militants in the same region, killing four, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. It was not clear if the airstrikes were carried out by US drones, commonly used to target suspected militants in Yemen, or government jets.
The US considers al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch to be its most dangerous. The Yemeni government has waged repeated offensives to try to drive them out of the south.
The group has retaliated with a series of attacks against local security forces.
