A drone attack on two public buildings controlled by Al Qaeda militants in south Yemen killed three people yesterday, a local official said.
The dawn attack also badly damaged the offices of public water and telecommunications utilities in Huta, capital of Lahij province, the official added.
No details about the three victims were immediately available.
Witnesses said two drones overflew Huta both before and after the attack.
The drone strike came a day after a soldier and a civilian were killed in a suicide car bombing in Huta that a
Yemeni military source said targeted an armoured vehicle of the Emirati armed forces.
The United Arab Emirates has lost more than 70 soldiers in Yemen since the Saudi-led Arab coalition last March launched a military campaign in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognised government.
Lahij is one of five provinces retaken from Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels last summer by pro-government forces, but security problems persist.
Since the coalition intervened in Yemen, Sunni militants of Al Qaeda and also the Islamic State group have exploited the chaos created by the conflict to strengthen their positions in the south.
Al Qaeda has been well-established for years in south Yemen, but now faces competition from IS which has mounted a series of deadly attacks, particularly in Aden, temporary capital of the internationally recognised government.
The UN says more than 6,100 people have been killed and 29,000 wounded in Yemen’s conflict since the coalition began its raids, about half of them civilians.

UN agency delivers food aid to Taiz
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday it delivered emergency food supplies for 18,000 people in Taiz in central Yemen, only the second time this year it has managed to access the besieged city.
Taiz is the country’s third largest city. It is partially controlled by forces loyal to internationally recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and is encircled by Houthi rebels, who were last month accused by Human Rights Watch of blocking relief supplies.
A WFP “convoy entered the area of Al Qahira carrying 3,000 family rations including vegetable oil, wheat, pulses and sugar - enough for a family of six for one month,” the Rome-based UN agency, which deals with emergency food assistance, said in a statement.