U.S. airstrikes in Yemen hit al-Qaida targets

SANAA, Yemen — U.S. forces carried out more than 20 airstrikes against al-Qaida in Yemen on Thursday, killing at least seven militants in the largest operation since a ground raid a month ago that left a Navy SEAL and more than two dozen Yemenis dead.

The strikes targeted al-Qaida positions, weapons systems and equipment in a remote and mountainous area in central Yemen.

Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the strikes were aimed at degrading the group’s ability to “coordinate external terror attacks” and to limit its use of Yemen as a “safe space for terror plotting.”

Yemeni security officials told The Associated Press that U.S. jets and drones targeted at least six districts where the provinces of Bayda, Shabwa and Abyan meet. An official said the strikes killed seven al-Qaida militants in Shabwa and Abyan.

Al-Qaida issued a statement claiming that local fighters foiled a U.S. ground raid in the southern province of Abyan.

Several U.S. officials flatly denied that the U.S. participated in any ground raid in Yemen.

Thursday’s airstrikes came a month after U.S. special operations forces carried out a raid in Bayda in which a Navy SEAL was killed, six American soldiers were wounded and a military aircraft suffered a hard landing and had to be destroyed.

The attack was launched days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The administration and senior military officials have said the raid yielded valuable intelligence.

Survivors and witnesses said at least 25 Yemenis were killed in the attack, including 10 children and nine women.

One U.S. official said Thursday’s airstrikes had been planned for weeks and were being discussed before the January raid.