WASHINGTON _ A botched Pentagon raid in central Yemen got worse Friday when the military released what it claimed was sensitive intelligence seized during the assault _ only to discover that the video had been posted online in 2007.
The Pentagon released five video clips that showed jihadists building a bomb, a sample of the material the officials said U.S. Navy SEALs had collected last Sunday during a shootout at a compound used by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
An hour after the release, however, the Pentagon pulled the video back after acknowledging it had been posted online a decade ago.
The embarrassing episode compounded growing questions about the assault, which left one American dead and six injured, as well as what the Pentagon has said were likely civilian casualties, including numerous women and children.
The raid brought about the first confirmed American death in combat under President Donald Trump.
The White House argued this week that the raid was a success because the U.S. recovered valuable intelligence about terrorist operations. The Pentagon release Friday apparently was intended to bolster that claim.
U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, issued the five clips in a single video that lasted less than two minutes. Officials said the five videos were recovered from computers seized during the raid.
The footage depicted a figure, wearing a white lab coat and a black ski mask, pouring material into a glass beaker. Speaking in Arabic, he instructed viewers to build a bomb and attack the West.
"The videos are one example of the volumes of sensitive al-Qaida terror-planning information recovered during the operation," Col. John J. Thomas, the Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.
"What was captured from the site has already afforded insights into al-Qaida leadership, AQAP methods of exporting terror, and how they communicate," he added.
But the videos, titled "Courses for Destroying the Cross," had been available online since 2007, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an independent group that researches and archives communications by terrorist groups.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, later acknowledged that the video had been online, but he said it was only part of the material recovered from laptops, cellphones and other devices taken from the compound.
Chief Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, was killed and six other service members were wounded during the pre-dawn attack in central Bayda province.
Earlier this week, the military admitted that Yemeni civilians were likely killed when helicopter gunships were called in to support U.S. forces who were locked in battle with the militants.
Among those reported killed was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born al-Qaida leader who was killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen. Al-Awlaki's teenage son was subsequently killed in a separate U.S. drone strike that was targeting another al-Qaida figure.
The Pentagon has mostly relied on drone strikes against al-Qaida targets in Yemen, especially after the country fell into civil war two years ago.
In this case, U.S. commanders suspected they had found an AQAP headquarters. The raid aimed to collect material that could help identify operatives and provide intelligence about planning of terrorist attacks.
