US Central Command has released clips from five longer videos seized in the Jan. 29 raid in Yemen - that left one Navy SEAL dead - showing a small sample of the sort of intelligence information that was obtained in the site exploitation mission against an al-Qa’eda in the Arabian Peninsula staging area, propaganda center, and logistics hub for AQAP’s terrorist network this past weekend.
The US CENTCOM Statement reads:
Post-raid analysis has determined that several of the previously announced 14 enemies killed were terrorist network leaders and facilitators. Officials now believe that Sultan al Dhahab and Abd-al-Ra’uf al-Dhahab, two longstanding AQAP operational planners and weapons experts, were among the enemy killed at the scene. The militants were killed during the raid that also cost the life of a U.S. servicemember.
The videos released today are samples of a series of detailed, do-it-yourself lessons intended for aspiring terrorist bomb-makers and included an exhortation to use those techniques to attack the West. The full-length videos, from which these clips were extracted, were taken from a computer seized by U.S. special operations servicemembers during the raid.
The presence of terrorist leaders at the headquarters, along with several other AQAP personalities, is consistent with pre-strike assesments that the compound was used as a staging location, propaganda center, and logistics hub for AQAP’s terrorist network.
One of the videos demonstrates the process for making Triacetone Triperoxide, an explosive used in numerous terrorist attacks, including the attempted “shoebomber” attack in 2001 and the attacks across the London transportation system in 2005.
“The videos are one example of the volumes of sensitive al-Qa’eda terror-planning information recovered during the operation,” said Col. John J. Thomas, U.S. Central Command spokesman, “What was captured from the site has already afforded insights into al-Qa’eda leadership, AQAP methods of exporting terror, and how they communicate.”
"The raid was an aggressive move to bring us closer to understanding, tracking, and eradicating AQAP. The U.S. remains committed to eradicating the threats posed by these terrorists and denying them space and time to plot attacks.”
The remainder of the recovered information will remain classified.
AQAP has a long history of plotting, inspiring, and exporting terror to America and the West. The “underwear bomber,” Boston Marathon attack, and the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris are all the responsibility of AQAP.
