Cairo • A U.S. commando raid in Yemen that set off a fierce firefight revealed the growing strength of an al-Qaida affiliate that has targeted both the United States and Europe in recent years.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, had collected enough intelligence to anticipate the raid last weekend, Yemeni officials and analysts said. The militants also had the firepower to counterattack from their bastion, which was surrounded by land mines and other traps.
By the end of the raid, a Navy SEAL was dead and three other U.S. troops were wounded. Yemeni officials said that as many as 30 civilians, including 10 women and children, were also killed. Among them was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni American al-Qaida leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
The Pentagon initially said it could not confirm reports of civilian casualties, but it acknowledged on Wednesday that civilians were "likely killed" in the raid, which took place in remote Bayda province.
The raid and civilian casualties have triggered anger across Yemen toward the U.S., adding to tensions over President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of Yemen and six other majority-Muslim countries. Yemenis have posted photos on social media of children purportedly killed in the attack.
In the capital of Sanaa, where anti-American slogans are scrawled on billboards and walls across the city, the raid appeared to unify Yemenis, a rare occurrence these days in the fractured country.
On Thursday, the watchdog group Amnesty International called for Secretary of Defense James Mattis to launch an investigation into the civilian deaths, and, if appropriate, "prosecute those responsible."
The raid was the first counterterrorism operation approved by Trump; he hailed it as a success. But regional analysts say it could help AQAP gain sympathy and support from local populations.
The militant group, which U.S. officials consider al-Qaida's most dangerous branch, seized large swaths of southern Yemen in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts that topped longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. Now, with Yemen gripped by a 2-year-old civil war, AQAP has expanded its reach even more, gaining territory and recruits and deepening its influence and networks among local tribes.
Al-Qaida in Yemen "is stronger than it has ever been," the International Crisis Group said, adding that the militants are "thriving in an environment of state collapse, growing sectarianism, shifting alliances, security vacuums and a burgeoning war economy."
AQAP was behind some of the most audacious assaults against the West in recent years, including a failed attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. It also asserted responsibility for the deadly 2015 shootings at the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.
The ill-fated raid was an indicator of how much the political fallout from the Arab revolts has weakened U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. As the nation slid toward civil war, Washington scaled back on counterterrorism training, intelligence-gathering and advising Yemeni forces. The conflict pits an alliance of northern rebels known as Houthis and Saleh loyalists against forces nominally loyal to President Abed Raboo Mansour Hadi, who is leading a government in exile. The United States, along with a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, is seeking to restore Hadi to power.
Today, a small contingent of U.S. special operations forces is helping Hadi's government and regional units combat AQAP and the Islamic State.
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible