SANAA // A wave of drone strikes in Yemen that are believed to have killed more than 55 militants is part of a new offensive against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to Yemen’s Interior Ministry.

Yemeni officials said the dead include three of the group’s top commanders, and that the strikes that began on Saturday were in reaction to a video released at the end of March that showed Al Qaeda leaders celebrating the escape of 29 militants from a jail in Sanaa last month.

On Monday, a suspected drone strike carried out by the United States killed at least three in southern Yemen, according to a senior Interior Ministry official.

On Sunday, Yemen’s Supreme Security Comittee said that three air strikes were conducted within hours of each other, with one believed to have targeted two of the top Al Qaeda figures in Yemen.

The council, which is made up of the top security commanders in the country, said the militants were preparing to attack Yemeni and foreign interests in the region and that the area where they were meeting, in a remote location between the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, was used as a training camp.

On Saturday, 15 suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed in another drone strike, along with three civilians.

Yemen’s defence ministry said that a number of top Al Qaeda operatives were killed on Sunday, including foreigners.

Two senior defence ministry officials told The National that US forces were directly involved on the ground in one of the operations.

“This time the US is seriously on the hunt for top Al Qaeda operatives. The latest Al Qaeda video took everyone by surprise,” a defence ministry official said.

The video in question was posted on YouTube on March 30 and showed a large meeting with Al Qaeda leaders greeting dozens of militants and celebrating the escape of 29 operatives from the Central Security Prison in Sanaa in early March.

Among the leaders seen in the video is Nasser Al Wahayshi, the group’s No 2 internationally and the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap), which Washington considers to be the most dangerous of the terror group’s branches.

The Al Qaeda video was a blow “for both governments after claims that they handicapped Al Qaeda after a two-year drone campaign,” the defence ministry official said.

Eyewitnesses in the area told local media that the bodies were collected by what appeared to be US forces arriving in a helicopter.

“Yemeni military and air force do not have the equipment and military ability to conduct accurate night raids, which raises suspicions that US troops were involved,” said Abdul Razzak Al Jamal a Sanaa-based expert on Al Qaeda affairs.

The US is the only country that operates drones in Yemen, but troops are not allowed to carry out ground operations.

The US involvement will mean more recruitment for Al Qaeda, he said.

“Hundreds of US drone strikes over the last two years has only made Al Qaeda stronger, which means complete failure. Yemenis will not accept more foreign intervention,” Mr Al Jamal.

According to the Geneva-based human rights organisation Al Karama, the deaths of hundreds of civilians in the drone strikes is one reason for the failure of Yemen’s anti-Al Qaeda operations.

Mohammed Al Ahmadi, head of Al Karama’s Yemen office, doubts the Yemeni government knows the true identities of those killed in the attacks.

He dared the government to release the names of those killed.

“They can’t announce the names of the killed because they don’t know who most of them are. They kill civilians and cover it up by giving general statements saying top militants were killed without going into detail,” Mr Al Ahmadi said.

The government admitted that three civilians were killed in Saturday’s drone strikes, saying it was unfortunate they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“The truck belonging to the civilians quickly drove near the targeted pickup truck,” according to the Supreme Security Committee.

Five other civilians were injured in the strike. Two remain in critical condition.

One witness to the attack, Salem Al Kashm, told Yemeni media that he was driving to the city of Al Hazemiyah to pick up groceries to sell in the village where he lives. He said a truck behind him was hit suddenly by a drone, killing everyone inside immediately.

After the attack, the drone stayed in the area for about an hour to ensure there were no survivors, according to Mr Al Al Kashm.

“The shrapnel from the drone strike flew everywhere, killing and injuring people. Small explosions continued for more than an hour after the strike,” he said.

He added that some of those killed were ordinary labourers who were only seeking jobs.

The United States first started using drones against Al Qaeda in Yemen in 2002. The strikes were then halted for a few years and resumed in 2009.

The National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms, a Sanaa-based human rights organisation, said there had been more than 500 drone strikes in Yemen over the past four years.

More than a dozen top Yemeni security officials have visited Washington in the last month to review and plan the next steps in Yemen’s war on Al Qaeda, according to officials in the defence ministry.

This has angered many Yemeni politicians.

“Yemenis are approving the killing of Yemenis outside the law. How do you expect me to approve that?” said Ali Al Mamari, a prominent Yemeni parliamentarian.

“Drones are a disgrace to the president and the Yemeni government,” he added.

Since becoming president in 2012, Abdrabu Mansur Hadi has supported the extensive use of US drones, which has resulted in more anger and opposition to US involvement in the country.

Mr Hadi has repeatedly vowed to fight Al Qaeda until they surrender or are killed.

He has shown no sign his counterterrorism strategy will change.

foreign.desk@thenational.ae