A suspected US drone strike has targeted a car carrying al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen, killing all five passengers, security officials said.

The attack took place in a mountainous area in al-Saied in southern Shabwa province.

One of those killed in the attack was a suspected al-Qaeda leader named Musaad al-Habashi, the officials said.

The US considers al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to be the group’s most dangerous branch world and has linked it to a number of botched or foiled attacks on the US homeland.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.