Missile strikes have killed eight suspected militants in an al-Qaida stronghold in Yemen, days after the U.S. announced it stopped a terrorist plot by the group's Yemen branch.

Local residents say the missile strikes occurred early Thursday in the southern town of Jaar, which is in a region used as a base by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

On Monday, U.S. officials revealed they thwarted a plot to bomb a U.S.-bound plane with an explosive underwear device similar to one crafted for an intended bombing in 2009.

U.S. media reports say the man sent by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to carry out the plot was actually a double agent who had infiltrated the terror group.

U.S. and foreign intelligence officials say the operative has given the explosive device to U.S. officials for analysis.

They also say the operative provided information that led to a Sunday airstrike that killed al-Qaida leader Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso in Yemen. He was wanted for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the Yemeni coast. Seventeen U.S. sailors died in the blast.