US strikes in Yemen kill 8 Al Qaeda militants

Aden - The Pentagon said it had carried out more than 20 strikes on Thursday

US fighter jets pounded Al Qaeda targets in Yemen for a second straight day on Friday, killing eight militants, security and tribal sources said, as Washington steps up its air war against the militants.
The Pentagon said it had carried out more than 20 strikes on Thursday targeting Al Qaeda positions in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan and the central province of Baida.
Yemeni officials said at least 12 suspected militants were killed in those strikes, which came barely one month after a botched US commando raid against the group left multiple civilians and a Navy SEAL dead.
In Friday's strikes, US warplanes hit three houses in the Yashbam Valley before dawn, one of them the home of Al Qaeda's Shabwa province commander, Saad Atef, the tribal sources said.
Security officials in the area said eight militants were killed in the raids. Tribal sources said that women and children were also wounded.
The valley is a militant stronghold and was one of the targets of Thursday's strikes.

• MENA