US special forces who led a rare ground assault against al-Qaeda in Yemen over the weekend killed women fighting alongside male extremists, AFP reported Monday (January 30th).
"There were a lot of female combatants" in Sunday's battle, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis. "Female fighters ran to pre-established positions as though they had trained to be ready" to fight.
The raid was staged in the Yakla region of Baida province against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
A US service member was killed during a firefight and three others were injured in a hard landing of a V-22 Osprey military aircraft nearby, Davis said.
On the AQAP side, 14 fighters, including women, were killed, according to the Pentagon, noting that the death toll was still being evaluated.
According to the Pentagon, the raid was aimed at seizing the maximum amount of documents, computers or other electronic devices before pulling back.
The raid, he said, "was specifically to enable us to gather the information we needed to be able to map out this group better and to prevent future foreign terrorist attacks".
