Yemeni al-Qaeda leader killed in drone strike

PanARMENIAN.Net - An al-Qaeda leader in Yemen wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the American warship USS Cole has been killed in an air strike, officials say, BBC News reported.

A tribal leader in the east of the country says Fahd al-Quso was hit by missiles fired from an unmanned drone.

His death was confirmed by al-Qaeda and Yemen's embassy in the U.S. At least one other man died in the strike.

Officials later said at least 20 soldiers had been killed by militants in revenge for the attack.

A Yemeni military official told the AFP news agency that gunmen had attacked two army posts outside Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan province.

Officials told the Associated Press that 25 soldiers had also been captured. Government forces later killed 16 militants in shelling elsewhere in Abyan, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Zinjibar has been controlled by groups linked to al-Qaeda's local offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), since May 2011.