An 8-year-old girl was one of 15 women and children killed in an American-led strike against al Qaeda in Yemen, officials say.

The family of Yemeni American Nawar al Awlaki, also known as Nora, said she was killed in the raid, which is the subject of a preliminary inquiry to determine if allegations of civilian deaths merit a full investigation.

The girl's father was the late radical Yemeni American cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in 2011 in a US drone strike. His teenage son, Abdulrahman al Awlaki, was also killed by an American drone strike, just two weeks later.  

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Trump administration's first military raid has resulted in the death of an 8-year-old American girl, and an American serviceman.

The mission facing the US Navy Seals as they approached a remote desert compound was a formidable one: detain Yemeni tribal leaders collaborating with al Qaeda and gather intelligence that could plug a critical gap in US understanding of one of the world's most dangerous militant groups. Instead, a massive firefight ensued.

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"Almost everything went wrong," one military official told NBC News. 

American officials said they were unable to immediately confirm the civilian deaths but suggested that most or all of those killed were militants.

The raid in Yemen's Bayda area, which also included elite forces from the United Arab Emirates, was the first counterterrorism operation approved by US President Donald Trump, who took office a week earlier. And the death of Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, who would later succumb to his injuries, was the first combat fatality of Trump's presidency.

It serves as an early lesson for Trump's national security team about the perils of overseas ground operations, according to The Washington Post.

While campaigning, Trump endorsed killing family of terrorist suspects, which is a war crime.

"The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families," he told Fox News in December, 2015.

Trump and some of his advisers have promised to give the military greater rein in authorising such missions as part of their desire to wipe out extremist threats. But the president has also said he is leery of getting entangled too deeply in costly operations overseas.

In Sunday's operation, the Seals faced difficulties from the start. After the US forces descended on the village of Yaklaa, a heavily guarded al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) stronghold surrounded by land mines, militants launched an intense counterattack.

Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said women participated in the gunfight.

According to current and former officials with knowledge of the operation, military officials had proposed it weeks before, under former president Barack Obama's administration, as part of an attempt to compensate for intelligence losses caused by Yemen's extended civil conflict.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab nations launching air attacks on Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. The US has provided some support to those air operations but has distanced itself over allegations of repeated attacks on civilian targets.

After considering the operation for several weeks, Obama officials concluded that the raid would not be possible before the president's January 20 departure, and they began to tee up a final decision for Trump's top advisers.

The operation, the first US-led ground raid in Yemen since 2014, comes as the US tries to rebuild a counter terrorism mission that has been severely curtailed since 2015. Last year, the country established a tiny Special Operations presence in coastal Yemen, working alongside Emirati troops to keep tabs on AQAP activities.

The group has been one of the most potent branches of the global militant network and has been involved in multiple plots to attack the West.

Already, the Trump administration, in a flurry of executive actions, has shown a penchant for tightly held decision-making that has left out key agency officials.

Luke Hartig, who was a senior official for counter terrorism under Obama, cautioned that even swift or delegated decision-making on national security matters requires consultation with a range of agencies that could address legal, diplomatic and other questions.

"It's not about slowing things down – it's about making sure the complexities are well addressed prior to approval," said Hartig, who is now a fellow at New America and runs a research group at National Journal.

The Trump White House touted the operation this week as a success. A release by the White House on Sunday said the raid killed 14 militants and captured intelligence that could deter future attacks.

Trump spoke with Owens's family to offer his condolences.

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