Another bites the dus– … er, sand.

A United States drone strike killed a big time Islamist military honcho in southern Yemen Wednesday night, according to local residents. The dead commander ran al-Qaeda’s combat operations and had a $5 million bounty on his head.

This from Reuters:

Jalal Baleedi was killed by a drone strike as he was traveling in a car with two others in coastal Abyan province.

According to media reports and some analysts, Baleedi may have recently defected from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to become the chief of Islamic State’s Yemen branch.

The U.S. State Department said Baleedi was involved in planning attacks on Western diplomatic targets in Sanaa in 2013 and put a reward of up to $5 million for information that would bring him to justice.

U.S. drone strikes traditionally utilize Hellfire missiles to carry out an attack on a suspected terrorist or militant.

Another strike on Thursday killed an additional six al-Qaeda militants while they rode in a car al Rawda city in Yemen.