Two drone strikes killed seven suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen on Saturday morning, a local official said, nine days after U.S. President Barack Obama said he would only use such strikes when a threat was “continuing and imminent”.

Washington views al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) as the movement’s most dangerous wing after it attempted to launch bomb attacks on international airliners.

The official said the seven were in two cars driving in the al-Mahfad district of Abyan Governorate in southern Yemen where the Islamist militant group has a strong presence.