Tuesday January 31, 2017
By ERIC SCHMITT
Eight-year-old Nawar al-Awlaki was killed during a US military raid in Yemen. (Photo courtesy: Twitter)
WASHINGTON — Female fighters were among the roughly 14 Qaeda militants killed in an American commando raid in central Yemen over the weekend, the Pentagon said on Monday, seeking to explain a number of reports that civilians died in the nearly hourlong firefight.
A member of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 was killed and three other commandos were wounded in the operation early Sunday, the first authorized by President Trump since he took office on Jan. 20. The Pentagon identified the commando who died as Chief Petty Officer William (Ryan) Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill.
After initially denying there were any civilian casualties, Pentagon officials backtracked somewhat on Sunday after reports from the Yemeni authorities begin trickling in and grisly photographs of bloody children purportedly killed in the attack appeared on social media sites affiliated with Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday that the military was “assessing” the claims that civilians were killed in the surprise dawn raid that targeted the compound of a suspected Qaeda leader in Yemen, Abdulrauf al Dhahab.
Captain Davis then sought to explain the reports of women being killed in the raid.
“There were a lot of female combatants who were part of this,” he said. “We saw during this operation as it was taking place that female fighters ran to pre-established positions as though they’d been trained to be ready and trained to be combatants.”
Armed military surveillance drones hovered over the operation as it unfolded, allowing ground commanders to monitor the battle in real time, military officials said.
“Take reports of female casualties with a grain of salt,” Captain Davis said. “Not all female casualties are civilian casualties. In many cases, and certainly in this one, females can be legitimate combatants.”
Captain Davis said the mission itself yielded “valuable captured materials from the site that will help us gain a deep insight into the planning to help prevent terror attacks.” He did not provide details. In previous raids in Iraq, Syria and Somalia, commandos have recovered laptop computers, thumb drives and cellphones that yielded important information about militant leaders’ locations, activities and associates.
Yemen’s foreign minister, Abdul Malik Al Mekhlafi, appeared to take issue with the American military’s account on Monday, condemning the Special Operations raid on his official Twitter feed: “The extrajudicial killings and killing civilians are condemned acts that support terrorism.”
On Sunday, another Yemeni official said that at least eight women and seven children, ages 3 to 13, had been killed in the raid.
Qaeda supporters said that a young daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric and top Qaeda leader in Yemen, who died in a drone strike in 2011, was among the dead, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist communications. The group denied that any senior Qaeda leaders had been killed.
“The Department of Defense should conduct a swift, thorough and transparent investigation — including documenting the identity of each person killed and whether they were civilians,” Federico Borello, executive director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict, an advocacy group. “Furthermore, they should make amends to the families of any civilians killed or injured in the raid.”
Whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or now Yemen, American military officials often blame terrorist groups themselves for putting family members, including women and children, at risk by sheltering them in compounds or bunkers that are the targets of airstrikes or commando raids.
Pentagon officials say they go to great lengths to prevent civilian casualties, abandoning some strikes altogether if the risk to civilians — “collateral damage” in military parlance — is too great. To assess that risk on fixed targets, like the compound struck in Yemen over the weekend, the military spends days, weeks or longer monitoring a potential target to understand its “pattern of life” — the comings and goings of any fighters and civilians at a particular place.
Saeed Al-Batati contributed reporting from Al Mukalla, Yemen.