Two children killed in US drone strike on Yemen

Two Yemeni boys were killed in a drone strike while walking on a road in central Yemen used by Al-Qaeda militants who have been subject to repeated strikes by US forces in recent days, residents said yesterday.

They named the boys as Ahmed and Mohammed Al-Khobze, two brothers both under the age of 15, and said they were killed on Monday on a road used by militants in Yakla, an area in Al-Bayda province where Al-Qaeda is known to operate.

Two brothers—Ahmed and Mohammed—were walking down the road. A missile whistled in. They never made 15. (Yemen) https://t.co/EG9gShUUaq

— Dronestream (@dronestream) March 7, 2017

The area was the scene of a US commando raid in January against Al-Qaeda in which one serviceman and about 30 Yemenis, including women and children, were killed.

Three suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed on Monday in a separate strike in Qifa in the same province, local sources said.

Read: US in second day of airstrikes on Al-Qaeda in Yemen

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States has repeatedly attacked Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni arm of the militant group, in a series of strikes since last week from aircrafts and unmanned drones. It has killed several suspected militants in what US officials says is a campaign to degrade the group’s ability to coordinate militant attacks abroad.

AQAP has exploited nearly two years of civil war in Yemen to recruit followers and cement its dominance in central and southern parts of the Arab country.