A US unmanned aircraft had carried strikes in southern Yemen, killing seven people including the media chief for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

US unmanned aircraft had carried strikes in southern Yemen, killing seven people including the media chief for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Defense ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Egyptian-born Ibrahim al-Banna was killed on Friday night in Shabwa province.
Security officials said the air strike was among five that targeted al-Qaeda positions in Shabwa.

The statement added that al-Banna was wanted "internationally" for "planning attacks both inside and outside Yemen.

"He was one of the group's most dangerous operatives," it said. There have been previous reports of Banna's death, including one in January last year, but these were denied by AQAP.

Last month, Al-Qaeda senior figure Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a US strike.  The US-born cleric was targeted in Khashef in Jawf province, about 140km east of the capital, Sanaa on 30 September.

AFP news agency also quoted a tribal source as saying that one of Awlaki's sons, Abderrahman, had been killed in Friday's attack, but this has not been independently confirmed.