US forces kill 7 Qaeda militants in Yemen raid: Pentagon
Washington regards AQAP most dangerous branch of extremist group
WASHINGTON, May 23, (Agencies): US forces have carried out a ground raid on an al-Qaeda compound in Yemen, killing seven militants, the Pentagon said late Monday.
The raid took place in Marib province in the early hours of Tuesday local time and was conducted with the support of Yemeni authorities.
“During this operation, US forces killed seven AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) militants through a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes,” Centcom, the US military command for the Middle East, said in a statement.
“Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP’s disposition, capabilities and intentions, which will allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP.”
Yemeni tribal sources said the operation targeted a residential block held by al-Qaeda fighters in the village of AlHathla, in a mountainous district in the southeast of Marib province.
The dead were all members of the same Al-Aadhal tribe, the sources said.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the United States has increased attacks against AQAP, which has taken advantage of more than two years of intensifying conflict in Yemen to increase its presence.
That has included an ill-fated raid against AQAP in January that left multiple civilians and a US Navy SEAL dead.
That raid was the first authorized by Trump, who drew criticism after he blamed “the generals” for having “lost” Navy SEAL Ryan Owens.
Washington regards AQAP to be the most dangerous branch of the extremist group.
Since 2015, Yemen has been locked in a devastating civil war between Iran-supported Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
America has supported the Saudi-led coalition through weapons sales, airto-air refueling and some intelligence sharing.
The conflict has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded around 40,000, according to the World Health Organization.
Seven ceasefires alongside UN-brokered peace efforts have so far failed to stop the fighting.
US Central Command said in a statement the AQAP militants were killed “through a combination of small-arms fire and precision air strikes” in Marib, with the support of the Yemeni government.
“Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP’s disposition, capabilities and intentions, which will allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP,” the statement said.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters separately that there were no known US casualties and the raid was carried out 40-45 km (25-30 miles) north of another US raid that took place in late January.
One of the US officials said there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties in the raid, which was carried out by US Special Forces troops.
Two sources in Marib said that the attack began with drone strikes at a house in the southern Marib governorate near the border with the al-Bayda governorate, followed by automatic fire from low-flying helicopters.
They said that five members of their al-Moradi clan, a main tribe in Marib, had died in the operation and six others were wounded, adding that they were all civilians.
The January operation, the first of its kind authorised by US President Donald Trump, was hailed as a success by the White House and other US officials.
However, critics questioned the value of the mission after a US Navy Seal was killed. Women and children, as well as several militants, were also killed in the raid.
The US military has carried out more than 80 strikes in Yemen against al Qaeda militants since February.
The group boasts one of the world’s most feared bomb makers, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, and AQAP has been a persistent concern to the US government since a 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.