Aden // US special forces backed by drones and attack aircraft raided a village in central Yemen on Sunday, killing more than 50 people including tribal sheikhs allegedly linked to Al Qaeda and women and children, Yemeni and US officials said.
The ground operation was the first approved by US president Donald Trump, who vowed to loosen rules of engagement in the fight against extremist groups.
Drones targeted several houses in Yakla village in Al Bayda governate's Radaa district before commandos dropped from aircraft to carry out the raid, which lasted about an hour, a Yemeni official in the district told The National.
The official said more than 50 people were killed in the early morning raid, including eight women and eight children. The US denied that any civilians were killed, but Reuters reported that one of the dead was the eight-year-old American daughter of Anwar Al Awlaki, the radical propagandist and a leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch who was killed in a US strike in 2011.
“She was hit with a bullet in her neck and suffered for two hours. Why kill children? This is the new administration – it’s very sad, a big crime,” Nasser Al Awlaki, her grandfather, told Reuters.
One US special forces member was killed during the intense gun battle, and three were injured, according to a statement by US Central Command (Centcom). US officials said the targets were houses in the village that were believed to contain intelligence of enough value to warrant a risky ground operation rather than air strikes. “Americans are saddened this morning with news that a life of a heroic service member has been taken in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism,” Mr Trump said.
Centcom said 14 Al Qaeda militants were killed and that the ground forces obtained “information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots”.
A fourth US service member was injured in a “hard landing” nearby. The aircraft was unable to fly afterward and was destroyed by US forces.
It was the first US ground operation in Yemen since a failed attempt to free two foreign hostages in Shabwa province in December 2014, before the country descended into civil war that forced US counter-terrorism personnel based in Yemen to leave.
The US special forces killed Abdulraoof Al Thahab, his brother Sultan, who US officials said were Al Qaeda leaders, and all their family members, the Yemeni official said.
“The tribal fighters clashed with the American forces and they shot two helicopters, and the Apaches destroyed most of the houses of Yakla area, killing more than 50, including more than 15 women and children,” he said.
Some reports described Abdulraoof Al Thahab, Sultan, and Saif Al Jawfi, who was also killed in the raid, as members of Al Qaeda, but Yemeni officials from the government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi in Radaa and tribal sources in the province denied they had any connection to the extremist group.
The local branch of Al Qaeda has an external operations wing that has carried out attacks against western targets, but also has deep connections with some tribes in Bayda and is fighting against both forces loyal to Mr Hadi and Houthi rebels.
Two other members of the Al Thahab family who the US said were affiliated with Al Qaeda were killed in drone strikes in the past five years.
“Abdulraoof fights the Houthis shoulder to shoulder with the pro-government forces, and he visited Marib during the last week to coordinate with the pro-government forces about the liberation of Al Bayda province from the Houthis rebels,” the government source said.
Yakla tribal fighters have repelled many attacks by Houthi rebels who have attempted to take over the area, the official said.
Meanwhile, Mr Hadi announced the relocation on Saturday of Yemen’s parliament from Sanaa to Aden, and called on parliamentarians living in exile abroad to return so that future sessions of the legislature can be held in the temporary capital.
Mr Hadi said security conditions did not allow for sessions of parliament to be in the capital Sanaa, as it is under the control of rebels, according to the run-state Saba News Agency.
Yemeni forces including southern resistance fighters and army troops backed by the Saudi-led coalition earlier this month launched an operation to take strategic areas along the Red Sea coast near the Bab Al Mandeb strait from Houthi rebels.
Last week the forces cleared the port town of Mokha of rebel forces, but the rebels returned and fierce fighting continued there on Sunday.
Sources in Al Dhubab, a port village that was the first objective of the operation, said that landmines and rebel snipers were still hampering the pro-government forces from clearing the area.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae