According to the residents and local sources, a suspected US drone strike killed two men believed to be al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen late on Friday. The strike took place in the Shabwa province where residents heard an explosion that according to them completely destroyed a vehicle carrying armed people. Shabwa is one of several provinces in Yemen where al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is active. Yemen-based AQAP has exploited a more than two-year-old civil war between the Iran-aligned Houthis and President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s Saudi-backed government to enhance its influence in the impoverished country. The United States has repeatedly attacked AQAP with aircraft and unmanned drones in what the US officials say is a campaign to wear down the group’s ability to coordinate attacks abroad.