Washington emphasizes access to important information during Yemen raid
The United States gained valuable intelligence from last month's raid in Yemen about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), including its explosives manufacturing, targeting, training and recruitment practices, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that such insight was particularly important given the threat that AQAP has long posed
The group boasts one of the world's most feared bomb makers, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, and AQAP has been a persistent concern to the U.S. government ever since a 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day
Earlier, the White House reiterated his defense of the landing operation carried out by the US military in Yemen last month, which killed a US soldier, and a helicopter crash and the deaths of a number of "al-Qaeda" elements and civilians
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, Monday, that the landing process led to "gather a lot of information that will help ensure our security
"The US Department of Defense is currently conducting 3 evaluation of the process and the circumstances of the operation",he added, noting that the decision to conduct an evaluation of the process of landing was made for three reasons, namely: there are American victims, killing of civilians, and equipment damaged such as helicopters crash