US Kills 7 Al-Qaida Militants in Yemen Raid
U.S. Central Command said during the raid Tuesday in Marib Governate U.S. forces used airstrikes and small arms to kill the militants at a compound associated with AQAP.
"Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP's disposition, capabilities and intentions, which allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP," said a CENTCOM statement.
The U.S. said the operation was done with the Yemeni government's support.
U.S. warplanes and drones carried out airstrikes in March targeting AQAP in other parts of Yemen.
And in January U.S. commandos raided another AQAP complex in an operation that left Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens dead. Among those killed during the raid was Nawar Anwar al-Awlaki, the 8-year-old American daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and U.S. citizen who was himself targeted and killed by a drone strike in 2011.
AQAP has long been seen by the U.S. as a major terror threat. In 2010, the group attempted to send explosives-laden packages to the U.S. The year before, it sent Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, an Awlaki recruit, to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on a flight bound for the Detroit.