Over 50 dead in first US raid on Yemen under Trump

Seven women, three children including 41 suspected al Qaeda members were among the dead

ADEN:

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

The military operation was the first attributed to the United States against militants in Yemen since President Trump took office on January 20.

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

Earlier, tribal and sources in the region said the raid targeted the houses of three tribal chiefs linked to al Qaeda, adding that a number of civilians were also killed.

But the provincial official said Apache helicopters targeted also a school, mosque and a medical facility used by al Qaeda militants.

Under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, the United States stepped up its use of drone strikes against suspected militants in Yemen, as well as other countries including Afghanistan.

The United States considers the extremist group's Yemen-based franchise, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to be its most dangerous.

But although it only sporadically reports on a long-running bombing campaign against AQAP, it is the only force known to be operating drones over Yemen.

On January 14, the Pentagon announced the killing a senior Al-Qaeda operative in Baida the week before in an air strike.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group have exploited a power vacuum created by the two-year-old conflict in Yemen between the government and Huthi rebels, especially in the country's south and southeast.