Seven individuals suspected of having links to extremist organisation al-Qaeda have been killed in a US drone attack in the southern Yemeni governorate of Abyan. Sources told Arabstoday that senior group member Awad Lakra was among the fatalities, which occurred after an American drone missile hit the car the individuals were travelling in. All seven militants were killed, and three bystanders suffered minor injuries. The raid took place in a mountainous area, two kilometres away from the city of Mahfad. Last month, three American drone attacks in the same area killed 18 people, Yemeni sources confirmed.