US intelligence agencies are analyzing up to seven terabytes of data that was found by special operations forces during last week's night raid that killed Abu Bakr. al-Baghdadi in Syria. Washington officials told the New York Times Monday that Delta Force commando seized "a large amount of material" from the raid that killed the leader of the Islamic State. The material allegedly includes several laptops and cell phones, which hold about four to seven terabytes of data.
Al-Baghdadi is believed to have changed hiding places across northern Syria in a matter of days, so it is unlikely that he and his entourage brought the entire archive in tow. The commando who carried out the night raid reportedly spent two hours gathering information from the site. Now experts from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other elements of the US Intelligence Community, "are conducting a preliminary review of the confiscated documents and electronic records."
The information could shed light on how al-Baghdadi managed the Islamic State, how he communicated with the group's military commanders in Iraq and Syria, and how he exchanged information with other senior Islamic State officials in the Middle East and beyond. There are also questions about al-Baghdadi's ties with the leaders of Islamic State affiliates around the world. Basically, to what extent has the main leadership of the Islamic State under al-Baghdadi directed the operations of the group's subsidiaries abroad? There may also be documents among the confiscated information material that deal with the changing strategy of the Islamic State following the collapse of its territorial base in the Middle East.
In addition to the confiscated information, American troops captured two al-Baghdadi guards who were guarding his compound during the raid last weekend.
