Officials in Washington say an unmanned CIA aircraft carried out Sunday's missile attack in Yemen which killed six al-Qaeda suspects.
One of them was accused of involvement in the bombing of the naval vessel the USS Cole off Aden two years ago.
The suspects were targeted by a pilotless reconnaissance plane as they travelled in a desert region. This is the first time that Americans have carried out an attack of this kind outside Afghanistan.
The US State Department has repeatedly condemned Israel for similar so-called targeted killings of Palestinians in the West Bank.
