Three members of the Yemen-based Al-Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone strike pounded their car in southeastern Shabwa province late on Friday, a tribal leader told Xinhua.

"Two missiles fired from an unmanned U.S. drone destroyed a travelling car in Houta region in Shabwa province this night," the local tribal chief said on condition of anonymity.

"Three burned bodies for unknown people believed to be from the al-Qaida along with their destroyed car were found in the area," the source added.

Meanwhile, local residents told Xinhua by phone that they heard three huge explosions followed by heavy gunfire near an army brigade in the southern province of al-Dhalea.

Yemen has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) , which emerged in January and also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, had claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on some Western countries.

AQAP claimed responsibility for an attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner by sending Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who visited Yemen and had been trained by the militants there.

Last month, Washington said it won't suspended anti-terror operations against the al-Qaida activities in Yemen following Yemen's Shiite Houthi group took over the country's capital Sanaa.