Insight - In Yemen chaos, Islamic State grows to rival al Qaeda

A police tape cordons the site of a car bomb attack in Yemen's capital Sanaa June 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's leadership of Islamist militancy in Yemen is being challenged amid the chaos of civil war by its rival Islamic State, which could become a bigger threat to the group than the U.S. drones that periodically kill its commanders.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remains the country's top militant network and its several thousand fighters and bomb makers, who have repeatedly tried to bring down Western aircraft, are still seen as a serious threat by Washington.