U.S. officials say they want to combine a deeper involvement with the Yemenis on the counterterrorism front with programs designed to alleviate poverty, illiteracy and rapid population growth.

Much like the effort with Pakistan's Frontier Corps, the U.S. military has boosted its counterterrorism training for Yemeni forces, and is providing more intelligence, which includes surveillance by unmanned drones, U.S. officials and analysts have told The Associated Press.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of the operations, say the support comes at the request of Yemen.  A Yemeni official said Tuesday that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies have been participating in joint operations for some time with Yemeni troops, and the two countries are currently in discussions to build a new aviation unit to help bolster Yemen's counterterrorism forces.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, said that while the intelligence sharing has been critical, the Yemen military badly needs helicopters for its counterterrorism operations.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that operations have killed scores of people, among them six of15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaida affiliate. Other officials told The Associated Press the number may be closer to four.

The operations were approved by President Barack Obama and begun six weeks ago and involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command.

U.S. officials have said repeatedly that American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen, but provide intelligence, surveillance, planning and other weapons assistance.
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