Officials confirmed late on Monday that Yemen authorized a US drone to strike a vehicle believed to be transporting terror militants as it was travelling through the eastern province of Hadhramawt.
Ever since Islamists were driven out of the southern province of Abyan in 2012, where they had established several strongholds, the group had attempted to use unrest and popular resentment in this fief of the Southern Secessionist Movement to set up new bases.
This has translated on the ground into a surge in violence, targeted-killings and acts of sabotage.
The missile killed all three passengers upon impact. The unidentified men were, according to reports, driving in the al-Qatan district when they were struck by a missile.
"The vehicle and its occupants were completely burned," an official told Reuters.
Although drones have grown increasingly unpopular over the past months, as civilian casualties and deaths have piled up, making Yemenis rather uneasy as to the real benefits of those unmanned planes in terms of counter-terrorism, especially since security experts have often argue that drones have actually played into al-Qaeda narrative and antagonized local populations.
Human Rights Watch slammed Yemen coalition government last August when it revealed that according its findings dozens of civilians, amongst whom many women and children had perished in America’s war against terror in Yemen.
Officials warned under cover of anonymity that Yemen would be likely to authorize many more US-led drone strikes after last Wednesday’s bomb attack against the Defence Ministry as to send a clear message to radical Islamists in the region.