Navy SEAL And 8-Year-Old Killed In Trump's First Raid

Military officials told Reuters that Trump approved the operation, his first as commander in chief, without having sufficient ground support in place.

The US concluded that civilian non-combatants, possibly including children, were "likely killed" amid firefight during a raid in Yemen on January 29, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) revealed Wednesday. USA forces reportedly took fire "from all sides", according to a Pentagon statement. A Navy Seal was killed and three others injured, while an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft made a "bad landing" and had to be destroyed.

A U.S. commando by the name of Willian Ryan Ownes and Nawar Anwar al-Alwaki, an eight-year-old girl, died in what was the first military raid carried out under President Donald Trump.

The Pentagon said 14 militants were killed in the raid, though medics at the base said 30 people had died, including 10 women and children.

A defense official told the Associated Press that the mission was planned by the Obama administration but authorized by Trump.

Nawar is the daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a suspected senior al-Qaeda leader killed by a USA drone strike in 2011.

"The first military actions by the Trump administration in Yemen bode poorly for the prospect of smartly and effectively countering AQAP", read the report, released after Sunday's USA air raid in central Yemen.

Here's what we know and what's been reported.

The Pentagon directed queries about the officials' characterization of the raid to U.S. Central Command. "In many cases, and certainly in this one, females can be legitimate combatants". According to al Qaeda, a senior leader of the organization's branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, died along with other militants in the battle.

There has been no official confirmation of Nawar's death from Yemeni or U.S. officials.

It is continuing to look into whether there "were any still-undetected civilian casualties". Al-Dhahab, AQAP's Central Yemen commander comes from a family of jihadists that fight along all fronts of the Yemen Civil War and was integral in al-Qaeda's push to unite some portions of the Hadi and Houthi tribal rebel groups now fighting in Yemen.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is one of the global militant group's most active branches. As a result, forces needed to carry out an airstrike to destroy the Osprey to protect its technology from falling into the hands of United States enemies.

Trump called Owens' family Tuesday to express his condolences personally and went to Dover Air Force base Wednesday to be with the fallen soldier's family when his body was returned to the US.