The US is working to locate and monitor hundreds of people, or “contacts,” found as part of the intelligence retrieved during the raid last month in Yemen targeting an al Qaeda affiliate, several US officials told CNN.
The sources said some of these people are believed to be in the West but not in the United States.
This raid on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula site has become controversial following the death of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, whose father has demanded an investigation into the approval and execution of the January operation.
As CNN has reported, laptops and cell phones were grabbed during the raid. Multiple senior US officials told CNN the intelligence recovered is vital and is in fact being acted upon.
Separately, a defense official said that the latest strikes overnight in Yemen targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were not connected to the intelligence obtained in January’s raid, as the airstrikes had been planned for some time.