At least 10 Yemeni women and children have been killed in the first US military operation in the country authorised by President Donald Trump, medics and local media have said.

Axar.az reports referring to the Aljazeera, US military said it killed 14 members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Sunday's dawn raid in the southern province of al-Bayda that involved missiles and helicopter machine guns.

In a statement, the Pentagon did not refer to any civilian casualties, although a US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they could not be ruled out.

The official also said that one US commando died, three others were wounded and that military forces did not take any prisoners from the site.

AQAP said Abdulraouf al-Zahab, a senior leader of the group, was killed along with several other fighters in the raid on the area that has been a frequent target of US drone strikes.

Medics in al-Bayda's rural Yakla district put the death toll at around 30, including 10 women and children.

Trump called the operation a success and said intelligence gathered during the operation would help the United States fight "terrorism".