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A US drone strike has killed three suspected members of al-Qaeda in Yemen's Shabwa province, an extremist stronghold in the south, a security official said on Saturday.

The strike hit a vehicle in Saeed district late Friday killing the driver and both passengers, the official said.

Washington considers al-Qaeda's Yemen-based branch to be its most dangerous and has conducted a long-running drone war against its leaders.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the campaign has intensified.

Last month, US commandos conducted a ground raid on an al-Qaeda headquarters compound in Marib province, further north, killing at least seven militants in a fight that left several US troops wounded.

For more than two years, Yemen has been locked in a devastating civil war between the Saudi-backed government and the Houthi rebels who control the capital.

Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the conflict to expand its presence in several areas of southern and eastern Yemen under the nominal control of the government and its allies in a Saudi-led military coalition.