Via LWJ:

US drones launched the first strike in Yemen in 49 days, killing six “militants” in an attack today on a convoy in a southern town controlled by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers launched missiles at a vehicle carrying AQAP fighters in the Al Mahfad area in the southern province of Abyan, The Associated Press reported.

The exact target of today’s strike was not disclosed. Six members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the airstrike; three of them were identified but their names have not been disclosed, according to AP. No senior AQAP operatives or leaders are reported to have been killed.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and leaders have regrouped in the Al Mahfad area after being driven from cities such as Zinjibar, Jaar, Lawdar, and Shaqra during a Yemeni military offensive that began in the spring of 2012 [see Threat Matrix report, AQAP regroups in Abyan province]. AQAP controlled the cities in Abyan, as well as other cities and towns in neighboring Shabwa province, after launching its own offensive in the spring of 2011.