A US military drone has been shot down over Yemen, according to a report.
US officials quoted by Reuters say the MQ-9 drone was shot down over the country’s Dhamar governate, a region situated southeast of the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, late on Tuesday.
A military spokesman for the Houthi rebels had earlier claimed that air defences had brought down a drone belonging to the US.
According to one official, it was believed the drone had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, while another said it was too early to say who was responsible.
This marked the most recent instance of a US-operated drone being downed over Yemen, where it occasionally carries out strikes on al Qaeda insurgents in the region, known as al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula (AQAP).
In June, the US said the Iranian-aligned Houthi group had shot down another drone in a similar incident.
It comes as tensions remain particularly high between Iran and the US, since President Donald Trump’s controversial decision last year to back out of an international nuclear agreement.
