Top al Qaeda commander killed in Yemen drone strikes

A suspected U.S. drone strike overnight killed a top Islamist militant commander in southern Yemen who had run al Qaeda's combat operations and had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, residents said.

In nine months of civil war and a Gulf military intervention in Yemen, the United States has kept up a drone campaign there against al Qaeda and increasingly, Islamic State militants, who have continued to carry out attacks.