Jamal al-Badawi was inside a vehicle that was targeted by a drone aircraft in Marib province in central Yemen, local sources confirmed to The New Arab.

The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

Badawi, who was wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and assisting in carrying out the USS Cole bombing.

The 2000 attack killed 17 American sailors off the coast of Aden. Badawi was detained in Yemen and sentenced to death in 2004. He later escaped from a Yemeni prison and had since been sought as an FBI Most Wanted Terrorist.

The US considers the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to be the radical group's most dangerous branch.

Drone attacks against AQAP intensified after US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

AQAP has flourished in the chaos of the impoverished country's civil war, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Shia Houthi rebels.



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