United States President Donald Trump's first military raid orders saw the death of two Americans, including a SEAL Team 6 member and an eight-year-old girl, in Yemen on Sunday. The girl, identified as Nawar al-Awlaki, was the daughter of New Mexico-born former al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki -- who was killed five years ago in a US airstrike.
Iraq Parliament votes to outlaw Americans in an attempt to reverse Trump's orders
A senior US military official said that "almost everything went wrong" during the first military raid which was carried out under Trump. It was conducted by the Joint Special Operations Command in southern Yemen on Sunday and was intended at capturing computer equipment from al-Qaeda that could provide valuable intelligence to America. The US officials said that three al-Qaeda leaders were also killed in the raid.
The SEAL officer, 36-year-old Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was killed during a gun battle and three other military personnel were injured during a hard-landing of a V-22 Osprey military aircraft, Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Davis said.
Pentagon also said that a lot of female fighters, who were combating along with the male troops, were also killed during the battle on Sunday.
"There were a lot of female combatants. Female fighters ran to pre-established positions as though they had trained to be ready," Davis added.
The raid, which was conducted in Akla region of Baida province, resulted in the death of 14 fighters, including women, from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group, however, claimed that the number of casualties in the raid was close to 30 people and even children were killed in the process.
Yemen's former Agriculture Minister Nasser al-Awlaki said that his granddaughter died two hours after being shot.
"My granddaughter was staying for a while with her mother, so when the attack came, they were sitting in the house, and a bullet struck her in her neck. Other children in the same house were killed," al-Awlaki told NBC News.
"They [the SEALs] entered another house and killed everybody in it, including all the women. They burned the house. There is an assumption there was a woman [in the house] from Saudi Arabia who was with al Qaeda. All we know is that she was a children's teacher," he added.
