A U.S. drone struck a pick-up car carrying al-Qaida suspects in Yemen's central province of Marib on Friday night, a provincial official and residents said.

The airstrike hit the car while it was speeding down a dusty road in a remote area called al-Naseem in eastern Marib, northeast of the capital Sanaa, the official said.

All onboard were killed, he said without providing further details.

Residents said the drone was buzzing around during early night hours before it struck the car.

They said they saw the car caught on fire a few miles away after explosions rocked the area.

There is no report yet about how many were onboard or who exactly they are.

The United States have been flying drones over Yemen since 2000, killing hundreds of Yemen-based al-Qaida suspects.

However, al-Qaida operators have since reportedly increased in numbers with public presence and control of many small towns in several major southern and southeastern Yemeni provinces.

They have recently exploited the security vacuum after the country's army and security forces split apart and were involved in civil war against northern Shiite Houthi rebels, who overthrew the central government in 2014.

Source : XINHUA