A suspected US drone strike has targeted a car carrying al Qaida militants in southern Yemen, killing all five passengers, security officials said.

FBI experts are picking apart the sophisticated new al-Qaida bomb to discover if it was capable of getting past airport security and blowing up a commercial plane.

Al Qaida militants have staged a surprise attack on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a US drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.