SANAA (Reuters) - At least three suspected al Qaeda militants including a local commander were killed on Thursday in Yemen by a strike from an unmanned aircraft, residents and a local official said.

The attack in Redaa, in the southern al-Bayda province was the fifth by a pilotless plane in the space of 10 days in the impoverished country, where the United States has stepped up drone strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The strikes have all been in the south, where the group exploited anti-government protests in 2011 to seize territory before being driven out by a military offensive last June.

"We have noticed a drone flying over for the past few days," a resident told Reuters. He said the car in which the three militants were killed on Thursday was completely destroyed and their bodies were unrecognisable.

A local official said the commander's name was Muqbel al-Zubah.

Yemeni officials who report the drone strikes will not be drawn on which nation is responsible. But Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi spoke openly in favour of the drone strikes during a trip to the United States in September 2012.

Praised by the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa as being more effective against al Qaeda than his predecessor, Hadi was quoted as saying that he personally approved every attack. Hadi has not commented on the most recent strikes.

Washington stepped up attacks by unmanned aircraft last year. AQAP is believed by Western governments to be the most active and dangerous wing of the global network, and has attempted a number of attacks against U.S. targets.

Redaa was scene in September of the killing of at least 10 civilians including a 10-year-old girl in an air strike that apparently missed its intended target, a car carrying militants nearby, said tribal officials and residents.

A government official shortly afterwards said the attack was by a Yemeni aircraft, but some local people have said it was by a missile-firing drone.

In 2011 its offshoot, Ansar al-Sharia (Partisan of Islamic Law), seized a number of towns in the south that were retaken by the government in a U.S.-backed offensive in June.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush and William Maclean; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

• Malaysia tycoon Vincent Tan plans IPO of football club Cardiff City
• Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about US$1bil
• Crown selling entire 10% in rival Echo, partly owned by Genting(Update)
• First edition of 'Great Gatsby' to be sold at auction, can fetch US$150,000
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high
• Commodities trader sues BP, Shell others for alleged oil price fixing
• Billionaire Icahn seeks up to US$7bil for Dell bid
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe
• Goldman Sachs unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix tarnished image
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Maybank bullish on growth, to expand regionally under new leadership
• Khazanah appoints Nor Mohamed deputy chairman
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August

• British police arrest two men on diverted Pakistan flight (Updated)
• Britain scrambles fighter jets to escort Pakistani passenger plane
• 5,000 cave paintings discovered in Mexico
• Cars, schools ablaze in fifth night of Stockholm riots
• London's Heathrow airport closed after emergency landing
• Far East quake felt in Moscow, tsunami warning lifted
• Police make new arrests in London soldier killing
• Britain's press demands jailing of Islamist preacher
• Tsunami warning in Russia's Far East after 8.2 quake
• US bridge collapse sends cars, people into river
• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• Jury fails to decide on US murderer death sentence
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze

• British Open: Nicol David deals with disruptions for semi spot
• Kingston leads, McIlroy in Wentworth woe
• LPGA plans 12-hole rounds in water-logged Bahamas
• Ryan Palmer sizzles with 62 to seize lead at Colonial
• Kelly overcomes scare to clinch title in KLGCC
• Time to make amends Garcia wants to meet Woods to defuse racist row
• American Johnson back to defend Colonial crown
• Rain dampens debut of LPGA Bahamas event
• Tianlang adds another US event to schedule
• Clock ticking for next golden generation
• Nadal wants to create history at Roland Garros
• Serena out to tame French Open demons
• Zheng Jie stuns Wozniacki in Brussels
• British Open: Ramy Ashour racks up 38th successive win
• Nicol David sails into quarter-finals of British Open in 35 minutes

• Please wait.

• KL car number plates to bear ‘W1A’
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Singapore GDP growth surprises, beats economists’ forecast of contraction
• Tian, Tamrin and Haris released after remand denied (updated)
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Inventions a-plenty, but no real innovation
• Robber shot dead after attacking out-of-uniform cop with meat cleaver
• Thousands throng thanksgiving rally by DAP
• EC: Photograph of ‘blackout’ on polling day was a lie
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August