Sanaa, September 11 (RHC)-- At least four people have lost their lives in a U.S. assassination drone strike in the Yemeni province of Hadhramaut. A local official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the drone hit a sports utility vehicle near the provincial capital city of al-Mukalla, located some 800 kilometers southeast of the capital, Sanaa, the night before.

The overnight strike followed a similar attack three days earlier, which killed four suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants as they were travelling in a car on the tarmac of the Riyan Mukalla airport.

Al-Qaeda militants have stepped up their activities amid Saudi Arabia’s relentless military aggression against the impoverished Arab country and the ongoing conflict pitting the Houthi Ansarullah fighters against militiamen loyal to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Washington has been conducting targeted killings through the remotely-controlled armed drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The U.S. says the airstrikes target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have in most cases been the victims of the attacks.

The United Nations says the U.S. drone attacks are “targeted killings” that flagrantly violate international law.