IRBIL (Iraq) • United States President Donald Trump is "foolish" and has ignited the "flame of jihad" with a raid in Yemen in which civilians were killed, terror group Al-Qaeda has said in its first official comments on the new US administration.

That the raid came only days after Mr Trump's vow to eradicate Islamist terrorism in his inauguration speech makes it "clear for us that the threat was not directed to the Islamic militants only, but to all the Muslims, men, women and even children," Al-Qaeda's Al-Nafeer bulletin said, accusing the Trump administration of intentionally killing women and children.

US Central Command, or Centcom, has not specified how many civilians were killed in the raid on Jan 28, in which a Navy SEAL also died.

Among those reported dead was the eight-year-old daughter of Mr Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric with Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, who was killed in a 2011 US drone strike.

On online forums and social media, Islamist militants have also hailed Mr Trump's travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries as proof that the US is at war with Islam.

WASHINGTON POST