US forces killed a suspected top associate of Osama bin Laden in Yemen in a missile strike, a US official has admitted.
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A Predator drone - the sort of unmanned plane thought to have bombed six men in the Yemen. Reuters
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Mr Qaed Salim Sunian al-Harethi was one of several al-Qaeda members in a car when a Hellfire missile struck it on Sunday, killing him and five others.
The US official said the attack is believed to have been conducted by an unmanned CIA aircraft, possibly a missile-carrying Predator drone.
US counter-terrorism officials have said Mr al-Harethi, also known as Abu Ali, is al-Qaeda's chief operative in Yemen. He is a suspect in the bombing of the destroyer USS Colein Aden, Yemen, in 2000. The CIA has declined to comment on the strike.
Many al-Qaeda operatives fleeing the US-led war on Afghanistan have joined comrades in Yemen.
In addition to Mr al-Harethi, at least one more Yemeni al-Qaeda operative linked to the USS Coleattack, Mr Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, is thought to be in Yemen, US officials say.
In the USS Coleattack, two suicide bombers slammed an explosives-laden boat into the hull of the ship, killing 17 US sailors and disabling the vessel.