Security officials in Yemen say an airstrike has killed six al-Qaida militants, including a senior military leader who escaped a Yemeni prison in 2006.
Officials say the attack took place in northern Sana'a province near the Saudi border on Friday morning.
Officials say the strike targeted two vehicles that were carrying eight al-Qaida members. Authorities say six of them were killed and two managed to escape.
Military officials say the dead include al-Qaida military chief Qassem al-Raimi. Raimi escaped from a prison in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a in 2006.
In 2007, Yemeni authorities claimed its troops had killed Raimi, but medical tests later proved the body was that of another man.
The Yemeni government has acknowledge it is in a war against the local group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The group says it was responsible for training the Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, held in the United States for allegedly trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on December 25 as it approached the U.S. city of Detroit.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.