The US military is investigating whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen at the weekend, in the first operation authorised by President Donald Trump as commander in chief. However, medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed.
It said that children may have been among the casualties. US military officials told Reuters that Mr Trump approved his first covert counter-terrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations. As a result, the three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al-Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.
A White House official said the operation was thoroughly vetted by the previous administration and that the previous defence secretary had signed off on it in January. The raid was delayed for operational reasons, the White House official said. One of the dead was the eight-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a US drone strike. Nawar al-Awlaki was a US citizen. The American elite forces did not seize any militants or take any prisoners offsite, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday the raid yielded benefits.
One of the two Ospreys suffered engine failure, two of the officials said, and hit the ground so hard that two crew members were injured, and one of the Marine jets had to launch a precision-guided bomb to destroy it. Mr Trump travelled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday in an unexpected visit to meet the family of Owens, who had been a chief special warfare operator. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists?
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