Women and children killed in Yemen raid

A US raid in Yemen yesterday killed 41 suspected al-Qaeda militants and 16 civilians, an official said, in what would be America’s first military action in the country under President Donald Trump.

Eight women and eight children were among those killed in the dawn raid in Yakla district, in the central province of Baida, the provincial official, who did not want to be named, and tribal sources said.

Sources in the region said the raid targeted the houses of three tribal chiefs linked to al-Qaeda.

The provincial official said Apache helicopters also struck a school, a mosque and a medical facility, all used by al-Qaeda militants.

Other sources spoke of US commandos taking part, but it was not possible to verify the information.

The three prominent tribal figures killed in the attack were identified as brothers Abdulraouf and Sultan al-Zahab and Saif Alawai al-Jawfi, the official and other sources said.

They were known for their strong links to al-Qaeda, the sources said.

The Zahab brothers have two other al-Qaeda brothers who were also killed in the past by drone strikes.

An al-Qaeda chief in the region, who was identified as foreigner Abu Barazan, was also killed in the attack, the official said.

The military operation is the first to be attributed to the United States against jihadists in Yemen since Trump took office on January 20.

Under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, the US stepped up its use of drone strikes against suspected jihadists in Yemen, as well as other countries including Afghanistan.

The US considers the extremist group’s Yemen-based franchise, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, (AQAP), to be its most dangerous.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have exploited a power vacuum created by the two-year-old conflict in Yemen between the government and Shi’ite Huthi rebels. – AFP