Deadly US raid on Yemen produced no major intelligence: Officials

A recent US ground and aerial attack on the Yemeni province of Bayda, which left dozens of Yemeni civilians and a US serviceman dead, has not produced any significant intelligence, officials say in contradiction to earlier claims boasting of the raid’s success.

Senior US officials told NBC News on Monday that they were not aware of any actionable intelligence produced by the January 29 commando raid on the Yakla village of Bayda’s Qifah district.

Earlier, the Pentagon had claimed that the raid had produced “actionable intelligence” about the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militant group.

An unnamed Defense Department official had also claimed that the assault had yielded “a significant amount” of intelligence.

Additionally, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed that Washington had “gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil,” adding that those who undermine the mission’s success do a disservice to Navy SEAL Ryan Owens who was killed in the attack.

This as Bill Owens, Ryan’s father, criticized the attack and demanded an investigation into it.

“Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into [President Donald Trump’s] administration?” he said in an interview with the Miami Herald.