SANAA, Yemen — An American drone strike in southern Yemen has killed seven al-Qaida-linked militants, including the media chief for the group’s Yemeni branch and the son of a prominent U.S.-born cleric slain in a similar attack last month, government officials and tribal elders said Saturday.

The airstrike late Friday in the southeastern province of Shabwa points to Washington’s growing use of drones to target al-Qaida militants in Yemen. The missile attacks appear to be part of an effort to stamp out the threat from the group, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Yemeni Defense Ministry identified the slain media chief as Egyptian-born Ibrahim al-Bana.

Tribal elders also said the dead included Abdul-Rahman al-Awlaki, the 21-year-old son of Anwar al-Awlaki, a gifted Muslim preacher and savvy Internet operator who became a powerful al-Qaida recruiting tool in the West. He, along with another propagandist, Pakistani-American Samir Khan, were killed in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone attack.

The tribal elders said Saturday that four other members of the al-Awlaki clan were killed in the drone attack.