Yemen ? Yemeni warplanes struck outside a desert village near the border with Saudi Arabia on Friday, killing six al-Qaida operatives, including the group’s top military leader in the country, security officials said.

The military chief, who escaped a government attack targeting him last month, was one of Yemen’s most-wanted militants and had plotted to assassinate the U.S. ambassador.

Yemen, with the help of U.S. counterterrorism aid and training, has intensified an offensive against an al-Qaida offshoot that has dug in to pockets of the mountainous, impoverished nation.