Nabil al-Dahab, leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen's al-Bayda province, was killed along with four other al Qaeda members, including Shawki al-Badani, the sources said. Badani is a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who is wanted by the United States.

The U.S. State Department has designated Badani as a "global terrorist", saying he was linked to at least two plots against the U.S. embassy in Sanaa and a 2012 bombing in the Yemeni capital that killed more than 100 soldiers.

A June 17, 2014, posting on the State Department website said the Yemeni government had offered a $100,000 reward for information about Badani.

U.S. drone strikes killed at least 10 suspected al Qaeda militants on Tuesday in central Yemen, where fighting between members of Ansar al-Sharia and rebel Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters also killed 10 people, tribesmen said.

Meanwhile,  an Algerian national was shot dead and a Frenchman was wounded on Wednesday by unidentified assailants in the southern part of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, a police source said.

Fighting has flared in different parts of Yemen since the Houthis rose to dominance in recent months, threatening the fragile stability of a country that borders Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.

Houthi forces took over Sanaa in September and fanned out into central and western Yemen. That antagonised Sunni tribesmen and al Qaeda militants, who regard the Houthis as heretics.

A tribal leader said one of Dahab's bodyguards was confirmed to have been killed in the overnight air strike, but he could not confirm Dahab himself had been killed because other bodies had been obliterated beyond recognition.

Other residents of Dahab's al-Manaseh village said they could neither confirm nor refute the reported death of the local Ansar al-Sharia leader, saying he had not been heard from since the Houthis captured the area last month.

The United States acknowledges using drones in Yemen but does not comment publicly on the practice.

A statement issued by residents of the Qifa region, where the air strikes have taken place, complained that the strikes by both the U.S. drones and the Yemeni air force were targeting "women and children at home".

"Those who are fighting the Houthis in Radda are the sons of the local tribes, and those who say they are al Qaeda ...are making these charges to justify the drones rocketing our houses and killing our families," the statement said.