The raid in southern Yemen,
conducted by the supersecret Joint Special Operations Command, was intended to
capture valuable intelligence, specifically computer equipment, according to a
senior U.S. military official. Three al Qaeda leaders were killed, according to
U.S. officials.
Contrary to earlier reporting, the
senior military official said, the raid was Trump's first clandestine strike —
not a holdover mission approved by President Barack Obama. The mission involved
"boots on the ground" at an al Qaeda camp near al Bayda in south
central Yemen, the official said.
"Almost everything went
wrong," the official said.
An MV-22 Osprey experienced a hard
landing near the site, injuring several SEALs, one severely. The tilt-rotor
aircraft had to be destroyed. A SEAL was killed during the firefight on the
ground, as were some noncombatants, including females.
Nawar
Anwar al-Awlaki, 8, was killed in an airstrike in Yemen ordered by President
Donald Trump. Yemeni media / via Twitter
Defense Secretary James Mattis had
to leave one of Washington's biggest annual social events, the Alfalfa Club
Dinner, to deal with the repercussions, according to the official. He did not
return.
On Monday, he released a statement
identifying the dead SEAL as Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens
and said, "Ryan gave his full measure for our nation, and in performing
his duty, he upheld the noblest standard of military service."
The senior military official said
the 8-year-old girl, Nawar al-Awlaki, also known as Nora, was among the
noncombatants killed in the raid, which also resulted in the death of several
Yemeni women. U.S. officials said some of the women who were killed, however,
were combatants and had opened fire on the SEALs as they approached the al
Qaeda camp.
The girl's grandfather, Nasser
al-Awlaki, Yemen's former agriculture minister, told NBC News a different
story. He identified his granddaughter as the dead girl from a photo taken at
the scene of the raid but based his description on what happened at the camp on
conversations with what he characterized as Yemeni sources.
"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 at 2:30 past midnight. Other
children in the same house were killed," al-Awlaki said. He said the girl
died two hours after being shot.
