41 Qaeda militants, 16 civilians dead in US raid in Yemen under Trump

AFP: The death toll from a US raid on Al-Qaeda in Yemen on Sunday has risen to 57 people, including 41 suspected militants and 16 civilians, a provincial official said.

Eight women and eight children were among those killed in the raid in the central province of Baida, the official said. It would be Washington’s first strike on jihadists in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office on 20 January.

Sources in the region said the raid targeted the houses of three tribal chiefs linked to Al-Qaeda, adding that an unspecified number of civilians were also killed.

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

Other sources spoke of US commandos taking part in the operation, but this was difficult to confirm with credible sources.

The three prominent tribal figures killed in the attack were identified as brothers Abdulraouf and Sultan al-Zahab and Saif Alawai al-Jawfi, the official and other sources said. The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 7,400 people, since a Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened to support Hadi in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

But UN humanitarian coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said last week that as many as 10,000 civilians may have died.