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ADEN: A US drone attacked a Saudi Al-Qaeda leader in southern Yemen on Thursday, but missed and killed two local Al-Qaeda members, a security source and witnesses told AFP.
The drone had targeted the Saudi as he drove to the home of local Al-Qaeda men, the security source said, asking not to be identified.
When the two local Qaeda men rushed out in their own car, they were hit and killed by the drone. The security source did not specify that the unmanned aircraft was American and there was no official word from the Yemeni authorities on who carried out the strike.
But the witnesses insisted it was a US drone that fired the missile. The defence ministry confirmed the killing of two brothers, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of their deaths. Security sources identified the two brothers as Abdullah and Mubarak al-Harad.
Witnesses said they saw a missile fired by an aircraft hit the two brothers in the province of Shabwa, where Al-Qaeda is well entrenched. The men died instantly.
A third person was wounded in the attack in the town of Nissab, the witnesses added.
The Washington Post reported in November that President Barack Obama's administration had deployed unmanned Predator drones in Yemen to hunt for Al-Qaeda operatives.
Yemen has come under intense pressure to crack down on jihadists' local franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, since a December 2009 attempt to blow up a US airliner that was claimed by AQAP.
