Yemen: airstrikes kill at least 8 al-Qaeda militants

Yemeni security officials say a US drone attack has left at least eight militants dead, an assault that comes days after a US drone strike took out a top member of the country's dangerous Al Qaeda network, reported CNN.

Yemeni officials earlier this week announced that Fahd al Quso, who was wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the USS Cole bombing and a member of Yemen's Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed by a US airstrike on Sunday. 

Days later, US and Yemeni officials revealed that the CIA had uncovered a planned bomb attack on the US by the same terrorist group, one American officials believe is among the world's most dangerous, according to AP. 

More from GlobalPost: Al Qaeda bomber in foiled plot is a double agent: officials

Security officials said the airstrike today hit a convoy carrying top militant leaders connected to an Al Qaeda branch, said CNN, violence that took place early today in the volatile Jaar district in the southern Abyan province. 

Yemen and the US have been working closely to coordinate a military campaign meant to oust militants from the country's south, where they gained a foothold during the political instability in Yemen last year — unrest that lead to the resignation of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. 

Yemen's new President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has described the fight against militancy there a top priority but says it is tied up with a host of challenges facing the country, including economic woes.

"The high number of unemployed youth [in Yemen] makes it easier that a large segment of the people falls victim and be an easy prey for the terrorist network to recruit and exploit," he said recently, according to The Yemen Times. 

The US did not comment on reports of today's drone attack but does not commonly disclose details about such operations to the media.