US drone kills 2 suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni franchise is known, is considered the most lethal branch of the global network, and has been linked to several sophisticated plots to attack the United States, all of which were botched or foiled.

The US has for years launched drone strikes against militant targets in Yemen and provided hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance to the government. Civilian casualties from the drone strikes have stoked anger.