US forces kill al-Qaida suspects in Yemen raid

American Special Operations forces conducted a new ground raid against al-Qaida’s Yemen branch early on Tuesday, killing seven suspected militants, military officials said.

The operation, led by a team of Navy SEALs and supported by an array of Special Operations forces, takes place as the Trump administration intensifies its operations in Yemen, where al-Qaida’s most virulent offshoot is believed to be plotting attacks against the West.

Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump approved an earlier, controversial raid that resulted in the death of one SEAL and a host of civilians, including children. U.S. military aircraft have also launched an intensified air campaign over Yemen, with over 80 air strikes on suspected militant facilities since Trump took office.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the operation, which occurred early on Tuesday local time, targeted a cluster of buildings believed to function as a headquarters for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen’s Marib governorate, some 30 miles north of the spot where the earlier Jan. 29 raid occurred.