2 killed in new Yemen drone attacks

American drone attacks in Yemen resumed on Saturday evening, targeting ?alleged al-Qaeda militants, after stopping for one day, amid ?attempts from Sanaa to temporarily halt the strikes due to popular resentment. Saturday’s strike in the southern province of Lahij targeted a car, killed two people and injured two others while a anohter escaped unharmed, a Yemeni official said on condition of anonymity. Nine drone attacks since July 28 in eastern, southern and southeast Yemen have killed 38 people. They are thought to be carried by the United States. While the US acknowledges its drone program in Yemen, it does not usually talk about individual strikes. The program is run by the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA, with the military flying its drones out of Djibouti, and the CIA out of a base in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, Yemen said it had foiled a plot by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to storm a Canadian-run oil facility at Mina al-Dhaba on the Arabian Sea coast. Yemeni Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed met on Saturday with Deputy US Ambassador Karen Sasahara and two American security officials based in Yemen to discuss the security situation. In a statement, the defense minister said he expressed appreciation during the meeting for U.S. logistical and technical support to the Yemeni armed forces in their fight against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Washington considers the group as the most dangerous al-Qaeda branch to threaten US interests. However Ahmed allegedly also asked the US temporarily suspend the drone strikes since the attacks have caused a public outcry. The drone strike comes as Washington said it would reopen 18 embassies and consulates it shut this week in several North African and Middle Eastern countries over al-Qaeda threats -- except for its Yemen mission which will remain closed.