An air strike Wednesday in Yemen's southern restive province of Abyan killed six suspected Al-Qaeda fighters, a tribal source said, but failed to confirm whether it was a Yemeni or a US raid.
The raid was carried out in Al-Arkub, a stronghold of the extremist network, the source said.
"Six fighters of Al-Qaeda were killed in an air strike on Al-Arkub," a mountainous area near the coastal village of Sharqa which is controlled by the Islamist network, the source said.
Medical sources confirmed that "bodies of six men killed in the raid were taken to a hospital in Al-Razi" in Jaar, another village in the province of Abyan.
The tribal source was unable to confirm whether the air strike was carried out by the Yemeni air force or by a US drone. Local residents claim that US drones regularly fly over the villages in the region.
Yemeni authorities deny any participation of the United States in their fight against Al-Qaeda, but on June 14, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, said that his country was carrying out anti-terrorism operations in Yemen.
In June, the New York Times too reported that the pace of US air strikes, led mainly by drones, had increased in Yemen. The operations were previously suspended due to lack of reliable information about targets.
