DUBAI- A senior leader of Yemen's al Qaeda branch was killed on Thursday in a raid by a US drone strike in central Yemen, an official of the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said.
The official said Abdallah al-Sanaani, a regional commander in Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed along with his bodyguard while travelling in a vehicle in the al-Sawma'a district of Abyan province.
"He was killed, along with an escort, and the vehicle was completely burned," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.