Drone kills suspected fighters in Yemen

Local official says three armed men are killed in
eastern Hadramout province , close to the Yemen-
Saudi Arabia border .
A drone attack has killed three suspected al -
Qaeda- linked fighters in Yemen' s eastern
Hadramout province , a local official said .
"The three armed men were travelling in a
vehicle along a desert stretch between Yemen and
Saudi Arabia 's border when the drone shot two
rockets at them . All three are dead, " a local
official told Reuters news agency .
No details were given on whether it was a US or
Yemeni drone, the agency said .
The Associated Press news agency also carried
reports of strikes against fighters on Saturday .
Earlier this month , the Yemeni army sent extra
troops to the Wadi Hadramout region in
northeastern Yemen to counter attempts by the
Ansar al -Sharia armed group to declare an
Islamic emirate in the city of Seiyoun .
Ansar al -Sharia is recognised as an offshoot of
Al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP ).
AQAP exploited a power vacuum wrought by the
2011 uprising that eventually overthrown
President Ali Abdullah Saleh to carve out areas
of dominance in south and east Yemen. Since
then, AQAP has repeatedly attacked state
institutions , including army camps and state
buildings across the US - allied country , killing
hundreds of people .
An ally of the West , with a population of 25
million, Yemen is trying to end three years of
political unrest , which began when mass protests
erupted in 2011 against Saleh.
The US considers AQAP one of the most dangerous
branches of al - Qaeda and lends military ,
financial and logistical support to Yemen' s
government , including regular drone strikes .