title: Drone kills seven suspected al Qaeda members in Yemen: sources
text: DUBAI (Reuters) - Seven suspected al Qaeda militants were killed by a drone strike in central Yemen on Wednesday, residents and local officials said.  The strikes hit two cars carrying armed individuals in al-Bayda province, the sources said.  U.S. forces have repeatedly launched drone and air strikes against Yemen s al Qaeda branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group has taken advantage of a more than two-year-old civil war between the Iran-aligned Houthi group and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi s Saudi-backed government to strengthen its position in the impoverished country. AQAP operates in several provinces in southern and eastern Yemen, including in Abyan, Shabwa and al-Bayda. 