Page 2 - aruba-today-20170130

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 30 January 2017
Military: First-known combat death since Trump in office

AHMED AL-HAJ said in a statement that Jan. 20, but for operational The news service linked to The al-Qaida official sent
MAGGIE MICHAEL three service members reasons it was not ready to al-Qaida in Yemen likened to the AP in Cairo photos
Associated press were wounded in the raid be executed before he de- the raid to a “massacre purportedly showing the
WASHINGTON/SANAA, and that a fourth one was parted, according to the against Muslims” and said bloodied bodies of several
Yemen (AP) — A U.S. mili- injured in a “hard landing” official, who was not autho- U.S. warplanes were first children killed in the raid
tary service member was in a nearby location. The rized to discuss details be- seen in the sky above the along with houses showing
killed Sunday during a raid aircraft was unable to fly yond those announced by area at 9 p.m. Saturday bullet holes. The official re-
against al-Qaida militants afterward and was “inten- the Pentagon and so spoke and that the raid began at quested anonymity for fear
in central Yemen that also tionally destroyed, it add- on condition of anonymity. 2 a.m. on Sunday, with 16 of reprisals.
left nearly 30 others dead, ed. Yemeni security and trib- missiles hitting three houses Just over a week ago, sus-
including women and chil- pected U.S. drone strikes
dren. The loss of the service killed three other alleged
member is the first-known al-Qaida operatives in
combat death of a mem- Bayda in what was the first-
ber of the U.S. military under such killings reported in the
President Donald Trump. country since Trump as-
“Americans are saddened sumed the U.S. presidency.
this morning with news that The tribal officials said the
a life of a heroic service Americans captured and
member has been taken departed with at least
in our fight against the evil two unidentified individu-
of radical Islamic terrorism,” als Sundsay, but the U.S.
Trump said in a statement. official in Washington said
The U.S. has been striking al- no detainees were taken
Qaida in Yemen from the in the raid. Al-Qaida in the
air for more than 15 years, Arabian Peninsula, long
mostly using drones, and seen by Washington as
Sunday’s surprise pre-dawn among the most danger-
raid could signal a new es- ous branches of the global
calation against extremist terror network, has exploit-
groups in the Arab world’s ed the chaos of Yemen’s
poorest but strategically lo- Debris and smoke rise after a Saudi-led airstrike hit an army base, in Sanaa, Yemen. A U.S. military civil war, seizing territory in
cated country. service member was killed Sunday during a raid against al-Qaida militants in central Yemen. The the south and east. The war
An al-Qaida official and an loss of the service member is the first-known combat death of a member of the U.S. military under began in 2014, when Shiite
online news service linked President Donald Trump. Houthi rebels and their al-
to the terror group said the (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) lies swept down from the
raid left about 30 people north and captured the
dead. Among the children It said 14 militants from al- al officials said the raid in near Yakla village in Radaa capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-
killed was Anwaar, the Qaida’s branch in Yemen, Yemen’s central Bayda district. led military coalition has
8-year-old daughter of An- formally known as “al-Qa- province killed three senior A two-hour gun battle en- been helping government
war al-Awlaki, a radical Ye- ida in the Arabian Penin- al-Qaida leaders: Abdul- sued after American ser- forces battle the rebels for
meni-American cleric killed sula,” were killed in the as- Raouf al-Dhahab, Sultan al- vice members landed on nearly two years. Sepa-
in a U.S. airstrike in Yemen in sault and that U.S. service Dhahab, and Seif al-Nims. the ground, it said. About rately, Yemen’s president
2011, according to the girl’s members taking part in the The al-Dhahab family, who 30 men, women and chil- Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi
grandfather. raid captured “informa- are the late al-Awlaki’s in- dren were killed in the raid, a day earlier called for the
Nasser al-Awlaki told The As- tion that will likely provide laws, are considered an it added. The killed and remnants of his parliament,
sociated Press that Anwaar insight into the planning of ally of al-Qaida, which is wounded included some many of whom are in ex-
was visiting her mother future terror plots.” now chiefly concentrated Saudis present at the site, ile in Saudi Arabia or else-
when the raid took place. A U.S. defense official said in Bayda. A third family according to the Yemeni where, to convene in the
She was shot in the neck the raid was approved by member, Tarek al-Dhahab, officials who spoke on con- country’s southern port city
and bled for two hours be- Trump. President Barack was the leader of al-Qaida dition of anonymity be- of Aden, where he is strug-
fore she died, he said. Obama had been briefed in Bayda but was report- cause they were not au- gling to establish govern-
U.S. Central Command on it before he left office on edly killed in a family feud. thorized to brief journalists. ment control.q

‘She Decides’: Dutch put millions into birth control fund

THE HAGUE, Netherlands ister for foreign trade and day after Trump signed an tional sexual health and doned,” she added. “Be-
(AP) — The Dutch govern- development coopera- executive memorandum rights organization based cause they, too, must be
ment announced Satur- tion, said she was making reinstituting a ban on U.S. in the Netherlands, the Rut- able to decide for them-
day it’s putting 10 million the initial contribution and funding to international gers Foundation, will man- selves if they want children,
euros ($10.7 million) into launched the fund — “She groups that perform abor- age the new fund. She with whom and when.”
an international fund it has Decides - Global Fund- tions or even provide infor- said the withdrawal of U.S. Ploumen said much more
launched to finance ac- raising Initiative” — with mation about abortions. money will create a huge money is needed but “I’m
cess to birth control, abor- a website . The ban has been instituted funding gap that can only confident we can go a long
tion and sex education for Ploumen said she has re- by U.S. Republican admin- be filled through a robust way so that essential servic-
women in developing na- ceived thousands of reac- istrations and rescinded reaction by governments, es, not just for women, but
tions after President Donald tions — the vast majority by Democratic ones since aid organizations and pri- for the whole of society,
Trump cut U.S. funding for of them positive — since 1984. President Barack vate donors. can be maintained.”q
such services. announcing the fund Tues- Obama last lifted it in 2009. The fund will “prevent wom-
Lilianne Ploumen, the min- day. That move came a Ploumen said an interna- en and girls being aban-