WASHINGTON — Members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 killed seven militants, but suffered combat wounds themselves, during an early Tuesday raid on a compound associated with Al Qaeda in Yemen, the Pentagon said.

Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to say how many members of the SEAL unit had been wounded or to describe the extent of their injuries, citing rules for secrecy and operational security. But he said the injured Americans were not in such serious condition that they required medical evacuation.

Reprieve, a London-based human rights organization, said five civilians had been killed in the raid, including a 70-year-old, partly blind man who was shot when he tried to greet the Navy SEALs, mistaking them for guests arriving in the village. But Captain Davis said, “We don’t have reason to believe that’s the case.”

It was the first ground raid in Yemen that the military has acknowledged since Navy SEALs carried out a similar attack in late January, the first such operation authorized by President Trump. One Navy SEAL team member died and three others were injured in that mission, and as many as 25 civilians were killed. </s> The United States military said a raid against an al Qaeda compound in Yemen on Tuesday morning killed seven militants, with two U.S. officials saying the primary objective of the raid was to gather intelligence. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants were killed "through a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes" in the Marib governorate with the support of the Yemeni government.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters. </s> The United States military said a raid against an al Qaeda compound in Yemen on Tuesday morning (local time) killed seven militants, with two U.S. officials saying the primary objective of the raid was to gather intelligence.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants were killed "through a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes" in the Marib governorate with the support of the Yemeni government.

The two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters separately that there were no known U.S. injuries or casualties and the raid was carried out 40 km (25 miles) to 45 km (28 miles) north of a controversial U.S. raid in late January. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least seven militants were killed during a raid by U.S. Special Forces troops against an al Qaeda compound in Yemen on Tuesday morning, the Pentagon said, the deepest the United States has penetrated Yemen to target the group.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters in Washington that multiple U.S. troops were injured, but not serious enough to require medical evacuation.

Davis said it was also the first raid in the Marib governorate and an AC-130 gunship was called in after a firefight broke out.

“The intent of this raid was to disrupt AQAP operations,” Davis said, using an acronym for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Local tribesmen confirmed a raid in Marib, which is controlled by forces loyal to the Western-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, but said five people were killed and six others were wounded, all from the same extended family.

It was the latest operation by U.S. forces against the Yemen-based AQAP, which has exploited a two-year-old civil war between the Iran-aligned Houthi and Hadi’s Saudi-backed government to enhance its influence in the impoverished country.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement the AQAP militants were killed “through a combination of small-arms fire and precision air strikes” in Marib, with the support of the Yemeni government.

“Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP’s disposition, capabilities and intentions, which will allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP,” the statement said.

Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters separately that the raid was carried out 40-45 km (25-30 miles) north of another U.S. raid that took place in late January.

Two sources in Marib said that the attack began with drone strikes at a house in the southern Marib governorate near the border with the al-Bayda governorate, followed by automatic fire from low-flying helicopters.

They said that five members of their al-Moradi clan, a main tribe in Marib, had died in the operation and six others were wounded, adding that they were all civilians.

Davis said at this point there was no credible indication that there were civilian casualties in the raid.

The operation was the first ground raid in Yemen since the operation in January, which was hailed as a success by the White House and other U.S. officials.

However, critics questioned the value of the mission after a U.S. Navy Seal was killed. Women and children, as well as several militants, were also killed.

The U.S. military has carried out more than 80 strikes in Yemen against al Qaeda militants since February.

The group boasts one of the world’s most feared bomb makers, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, and AQAP has been a persistent concern to the U.S. government since an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009. </s> WASHINGTON, D.C.: US forces have carried out a ground raid on an Al-Qaeda compound in Yemen, killing seven militants, the Pentagon said late on Monday. The raid took place in Marib Governorate in the early hours of Tuesday local time and was conducted with the support of Yemeni authorities. “During this operation, US forces killed seven AQAP [Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] militants through a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes,” Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East, said in a statement. “Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP’s disposition, capabilities and intentions, which will allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP.” The United States has increased attacks against AQAP – which has taken advantage of the chaos in the impoverished country – since President Donald Trump took office in January. That has included an ill-fated raid against AQAP in January that left multiple civilians and a US Navy SEAL dead. </s> Yemen has withdrawn permission for U.S. forces to conduct antiterror ground missions in the country after a deadly commando raid last month that reportedly resulted in civilian casualties.

The New York Times, citing unnamed American officials, reported Tuesday that neither the White House nor the Yemenis have publically announced the suspension. The report said it is unclear if the Yemenis were influenced at all by President Trump’s travel ban order that included Yemen on the list of banned countries.

U.S. Central Command said earlier this month that civilians may have been hit by gunfire from aircraft called in to assist U.S. troops, who were engaged in a ferocious firefight on Jan. 29 with militants from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The military said the civilians may not have been visible to the U.S. forces because they were mixed in with combatants in the compound who were firing at U.S. troops "from all sides to include houses and other buildings."

The Times reported that photographs of children apparently killed in the crossfire caused outrage in Yemen.

The Pentagon disputed published reports that the operation was compromised and that U.S. troops lost the element of surprise in the assault on the compound.

"We have no information to suggest that this was compromised," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, saying the accounts do not "match with reality."

He said the U.S. special operations forces conducted the raid to get valuable information and intelligence, including about potential operations by Al Qaeda against the United States and the West.

The plan, he said, was to "go in, conduct a raid, grab things and go." When the firefight broke out, he said the team "needed to call in this support in order to ensure that they could get out and not lose their lives." Fighter aircraft and helicopters responded to provide cover from the air for the forces, which included a Navy SEAL team.

Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in the assault, and three other U.S. service members were wounded. Another three U.S. forces were wounded in the "hard landing" of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft at a staging area for the mission.

According to Central Command, the firefight included small arms fire, hand grenades and close air support fire.

Davis said earlier this week that an unspecified number of women were part of the group of combatants battling the U.S. forces, and some were among the 14 killed in the firefight.

Planning for the clandestine counterterrorism raid began before President Obama left office on Jan. 20, but Trump authorized the raid.

He said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis supported the raid, and Trump approved it on Jan. 26.

The U.S. has been striking the militant group from the air for more than 15 years, mostly using drones. Sunday's surprise pre-dawn raid could signal a new escalation against extremist groups in the Arab world's poorest but strategically located country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report </s> ANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Latest on a U.S. raid targeting al-Qaida militants in Yemen (all times local):

The U.S. military says a service member has been killed and three others wounded in raid in Yemen targeting a local al-Qaida affiliate.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that another service member was injured in a “hard landing” in a nearby location.

It says the aircraft was unable to fly afterward and “was then intentionally destroyed in place.”

It says 14 fighters from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the assault and that U.S. service members captured “information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots.”

Yemeni security and tribal officials say the assault in central Bayda province killed three senior al-Qaida leaders.

Yemeni security and tribal officials say the U.S. has launched a raid in central Yemen, landing troops off of aircraft and killing three alleged senior al-Qaida leaders in a battle on the ground.

They say the Sunday attack at dawn in Bayda province killed Abdul-Raouf al-Dhahab, Sultan al-Dhahab, and Seif al-Nims. The al-Dhahab family is considered an ally of al-Qaida, which security forces say is concentrated in Bayda province. A third family member, Tarek al-Dhahab, was killed in a previous U.S. drone strike years ago.

They say the fighting lasted around 45 minutes and that the U.S. troops killed or wounded some two dozen men, including some Saudis present at the site.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

This is a developing story. Stay with 8News online and on air for the latest updates.

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Find 8News on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; send your news tips to iReport8@wric.com. </s> NEW YORK (CBSNEWS) – The Defense Department has identified the Navy SEAL killed during an operation against al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.

Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Kyle Milliken, 38, was killed during the raid on May 5 about 40 miles west of Mogadishu, the Pentagon said in a release. Milliken was a native of Maine and assigned to a Navy unit based on the East Coast.

Milliken’s death marked the first American battlefield casualty in Somalia since the doomed “Black Hawk Down” mission in 1993 in which 18 American service members were killed in the capital of Mogadishu.

The raid on Friday targeted a local leader of al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. Navy SEALs were advising Somali troops on the mission. </s> SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — A U.S. military member was killed and two others wounded after they were attacked while on a mission advising Somali National Army forces.

A U.S. defense official confirmed the service member killed was a Navy SEAL, according to CNN.

CNN reports the incident happened Thursday during an operation against local al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab 40 miles west of Mogadishu

"This was an operation targeting an al Shabaab group that had been associated with attacks on US, Somali and AMISOM forces," US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Friday, referring to the African Union mission there.

The troops were in Somalia for an ongoing program to advise and assist Somali ground forces. CNN clarifies the mission was not part of the Somalian effort to conduct airstrikes and ground missions against terror targets.

U.S. Navy Capt. Davis said the Navy SEALs and members of the Somali National Army came under fire shortly after landing near an al Shabaab compound.

Davis added that "the attackers were quickly neutralized on the ground."

"This was done under the same authorities that we've had since we began our operations there in 2013, which is to advise and assist on these types of missions," Davis said.

"US forces are assisting partner forces to counter al Shabaab in Somalia to degrade the al Qaeda affiliate's ability to recruit, train and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and in America," according to a news release from US Africa Command.

According to a U.S. military official, this is the first U.S. service member killed in action in Somalia since 1993, when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, killing 18 American soldiers during the Battle for Mogadishu.
The U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six's raid on an Al Qaeda in Yemen compound in the Ma'rib Governorate kills at least seven militants. SEAL Team Six also suffered unspecified injuries that were treated at the site.