Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Navy SEAL Team 6 Members Fought Female Fighters in Yemen Raid | Military.com

Navy SEAL Team 6 Members Fought Female Fighters in Yemen Raid | Military.com: Navy SEAL Team 6 fought and killed female fighters of an al-Qaida affiliate in the raid Saturday in Yemen in which a team member was killed, three were wounded and three injured, the Pentagon said Monday.

"There were a lot of female combatants that were a part of this," Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said of the firefight in the raid Saturday, which the Defense Department and White House said killed at least 14 enemy fighters. "Some of those enem[ies] killed in action were female."

Davis said the SEALs saw the women running to fighting positions as the team approached an enemy compound in Yemen's interior.

The main al-Qaida group generally limits women to support roles and suicide attacks, but AQAP reportedly has put women through training for combat.

The White House said the raid collected intelligence on AQAP's plans for attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Davis said the materiel gathered would give the DoD "a deeper insight into the group's planning."