Sanaa , Yemen ( CNN ) A senior cleric for al Qaeda 's affiliate in Yemen was killed along with three other people in a drone strike on their vehicle January 31 in Yemen , al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said Thursday . The cleric , Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari , was killed in Yemen 's south-central Shabwa province , AQAP said . The strike would be a further indication that a U.S.-led drone strike program is continuing following a pause during political upheaval in the majority Sunni Muslim nation . The United States has long conducted drone strikes against AQAP targets under the Obama administration . But the New America Foundation , which tracks the strikes , says there was a nearly two-month pause in the strikes in late 2014 and early 2015 as Shiite Muslim Houthi rebels moved against Yemen 's U.S.-backed government . That uprising culminated in the resignation of Yemeni government 's top leaders in mid-January . A week later , the U.S. drone strikes resumed , with a strike east of the capital , Sanaa , three U.S. officials said at the time . Al-Nadhari made headlines in November when he inserted himself into a rivalry between al Qaeda and ISIS , or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria . ISIS has captured parts of Syria and Iraq for what it calls its Islamic caliphate . In mid-November , ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued an audiotape saying his Islamic State had expanded to Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries . Al-Nadhari responded harshly in a video a week later , saying al-Baghdadi 's declaration of an Islamic caliphate was illegitimate . `` Our brothers in the Islamic State ... surprised us with several steps , including their announcement of the caliphate ( and ) they announced the expansion of the caliphate in a number of countries which they have have no governance , and considered them to be provinces that belonged to them , '' al-Nadhari said , according to a translation by the SITE intelligence group . `` The announcement of the caliphate for all Muslims by our brothers in the Islamic State did not meet the required conditions , '' al-Nashari argued , because other jihadi groups were not consulted . Al-Nadhari also criticized ISIS for `` going too far in interpretations in terms of spilling inviolable blood under the excuse of expanding and spreading the power of the Islamic State . '' ISIS and al Qaeda 's top leadership in Pakistan had a bitter falling out in 2014 , and al Qaeda and ISIS fighters have been fighting each other in Syria , but AQAP until November had stayed above the fray , calling for both sides to reconcile and pool resources to strike the United States . Houthi militants dressed in government uniforms raided the main office of Yemen 's daily Akhbar Al Youm newspaper Thursday , according to two officials in the Yemen Journalists Syndicate , an organization for reporters in the country . Eyewitnesses said the attackers damaged some equipment and forcefully locked some journalists inside a guard room at the office . Details about how long the journalists allegedly were detained were n't immediately available . Akhabar Al Youm is one of the oldest independent publications in Yemen , with print houses in Sanaa and Aden . Houthi officials did not confirm that Houthis were involved in Thursday 's raid . However , Ahmed Al Bahri , a legal adviser for the Houthis , said the newspaper had `` always been anti-Houthi '' and is funded by those who oppose the minority group . `` Many lies against the Houthis are published , which in return damages our reputation , and with no government censorship over its reporting , '' Al Bahri said . CNN 's Hakim Almasmari reported from Sanaa . CNN 's Jason Hanna and Margot Haddad reported and wrote from Atlanta . CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank contributed to this report .
Harith bin Ghazi al - Sheikh was senior cleric for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula . He and three others were killed in Yemen 's Shabwa province , AQAP says .