Story highlights A military raid went after a top al Qaeda boss, a source told CNN

The raid led to the first combat death under President Donald Trump

Washington (CNN) A senior US military official told CNN Monday that intelligence collection wasn't the only objective of the recent military raid in Yemen but the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had also been targeted.

If the leader, Qassim al-Rimi, wasn't there, the US military believed it would find intelligence that would help lead to him, the official said, though the official cautioned that the mission was not greenlit based on whether it was thought Al-Rimi would be at the site.

US Central Command, which oversees forces in the region, and the Pentagon are strongly denying al-Rimi was an objective of the raid just over a week ago.

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said, "There was never any intention, hope, anticipation or plan that he would be part of this operation."

"It wasn't a high-value target mission," Col. John Thomas told CNN on Monday, referring to operations aimed at killing or capturing terrorist leaders.

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