OPENING up a visible new front in the war on terror, US forces launched a pinpoint missile strike in Yemen, killing a top al-Qaida operative in his car in the first such overt attack outside of Afghanistan, a US official said.

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, al-Qaida’s top man in Yemen who was killed in a US air strike, had eluded capture for months by hiding in the desert and remote villages.

Six al-Qaida suspects, including Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant in Yemen, were killed when US forces carried out their first overt strike on the terror group in the Middle East by firing a Hellfire missile on the suspects’ car.