Orders to try to capture this man. But apparently a firefight broke out. Handtohand combat he resisted. He was killed in the firefight along with other isis fighters there. His wife captured and taken back to iraq. The big question why this guy, why was it worth risking so much u. S. Military lives to go after him . What we are being told is he was an isis leader if you will in their oil and gas operations. So thats very key. Because of the Financial Impact the financial benefit to isis. But perhaps more serious even there had been a sense by the u. S. That he was increasingly involved in isis command and control. And isis operations. And u. S. Officials are beginning to indicate there may have been a reason to believe he might have been in contact at some point with abu bakr albaghdadi, the very reclusive leader of isis. The guy the u. S. Of course wants to get. All right. Lets talk more about this Senior International correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is with us from beirut. Nick you have covered isis extensively. What more can you tell us about this . Tunisian citizen and his role in isis . Not much more than the white house and pentagon have said. Hes not somebody who was a familiar name. Abu sayaff i should point out is is a nom de guerre it is not his real name. We do have a name who isis experts think is his real name. But that may be wrong. So im not going to share it with you in this particular medium. But the pentagon say hes a man who is behind the oil and gas operations we know theyre very lucrative for isis in the beginning about a year ago when they made million as day through Smuggling Oil out of oilrich iraq. But a lot of airstrikes against Oil Infrastructure have suggestly degraded that kmas kpas capacity. The suggestion that this man was growing in his military and operational role and suggestions that perhaps he had phones or email addresses or computers on them that might lead him to other people. And that is more credible reason that enormous risk was endured by the white house and the pentagon to risk this operation. Weve heard hes close to al adnani and perhaps he was in contact with abu bakr albaghdadi. If that were the case they may have thought they would get one of those two men by launching this operation. This was an extraordinarily hard feat. The delta forces here. Were talking about an oil field, one of the most heavily fortified lair that isis have. 5kilometer fortress around it. So a lot that had to be done just to insert this extraordinarily risktolerant delta force. They must have thought the prize was worth it. Imagine the complex explanation the white house will be going through at this stage, had this god forbid operation gone wrong. A lot of questions still to be answered. Exactly what perhaps was in the u. S. Crosshairs but didnt turn out to be there. Okay. So the prize is clearly him. Hes been taken out. But at the same time you mentioned the comes, the communications the phones the computers, all of those assets. So special Operations Forces were presumably able to secure that. So that too, is part of the prize . Comms. We know from the bin laden raid when they gathered all of his treasure trove of information from his lair there was a rush to there through and digest it the helicopter blew out and it was quite clear what happened news of the raid leaked out. So they didnt have the time they may have wanted to go through the detail and look for other key al qaeda leaders, this potentially a similar case. Abu sayaff were trying to work out how significant he really was. Hes not a key name. Not part of the major four or five sought by the u. S. He may have had information in those cell phones that would lead them to someone else. Im sure the u. S. Would have tried to act on that and pursue individuals with the realtime information. But news of the raid began to leak out through activists in the area. Talking on social media. And also Syrian State Television the head of the pentagon announced in fact talks about how it was their forces who had gone in and killed the isis oil minister in their words. So the information was clearly coming out there. That obviously limited how maybe useful it would have been for isis intelligence to be acted upon by the u. S. Always a perishable commodity. A very complex night seshl, one in which we have yet to hear the full story. So one woman was, who was being held against her will was freed and then the other woman, we believe, that has been captured is abu sayaffs wife. What kind of role might she play in the whole structure of isis . What kind of information would they be able to get out of her . One of the more confusings things about the white houses version of events here is the notion that umm sayyaf thats not her real name. That means the mother of sayyaf. So abu sayaff and umm sayyaf mean the mother of a child called sayyaf. Is that she was intricately involved in Human Trafficking isis daytoday operations thats entirely feasible but its rare. We dont normally see isis using women in their leadership. They dont seem that often to have a role in the daytoday operations. Women in the vision that isis have for society take a secondary role certainly and there are women who support them on social media, who travel to iraq and syria, to be with them to be in the kind of society they espouse. But unlike the syrian kurds where the women fight alongside the men. Its a much more chauchbvinistic society. It does potentially give rise to the notion that her capture was a lucky side effect for the u. S. Of this raid rather than something they were planning on in the first place. But yes, the yazidi woman, one of hundreds if not thousands of yazidis abducted when isis moved into Northern Iraq she is now free and the u. S. Say she will be reunited with her family. Nick paton walsh, thank you so much. Meantime the National Security council says president obama ordered the raid with their unanimous recommendation and support. Lets get more now from the white house. Cnn National CorrespondentSunlen Serfaty is there. What more do we know about the sequence of events that led up to this authorization . We dont have any specific reaction from president obama himself yet, fred. But we do know that as you said president obama made the call that would be a call that would specifically come from him. To order this mission, order this raid. And the National Security council says that was done after a unanimous recommendation from his National Security team indicating that the intelligence showed that it was sufficient, that it had been developed and they were confident that the mission could be carried out successfully. We do have a statement from the secretary of defense responding to this mission, saying quote, the operation represents another significant blow to isil. And it is a reminder that the United States will never wave anywhere denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens. And those of our friends and allies. Now we know that president obama has been regularly briefed on this mission. By his National Security team. Fred . So sunlen this comes at great risk right . The white house is acknowledging that. There was a similar attempt last year with special opps being sent in to syria to win the release hostages. Why did the white house and the National Security team feel this was worth the risk this time . Thats a key question. The National Security council describing it as a complex mission when they released a lengthy statement about the raid. The big question is was this terrorist, was abu sayaff it was worth it to go in . What did they know about what he knew within the isis leadership. We know that the white house at least, they call him senior isis leader and they say that even though it should be noted as Nick Paton Walsh has been talking about, he wasnt necessarily high profile within the isis leadership. But a Senior Administration official here at the white house tells me that they do have indications that he potentially would have interacted with abu bakr albaghdadi. Of course that is a main isis leader that the United States has been trying to locate for so long. So thats why this was a capture mission. They wanted to go in and capture sayyaf. Gain any intel they had about albaghdadi and isis leadership. But this mission obviously turned into a kill mission after we know that abu sayaff fired on those u. S. Forces. Sunlen serfaty, thank you so much keep us posted especially if the president does comment on it this weekend. Joining me now via skype, cnn military analyst, retired Major General james spider marks. Good to see you. Lets talk more about this. So abu sayaff not the name that people have come to know. But why in your view is it important that these special opes would target operational leaders . He presumably being one of them . Was more than an operational leader. We would probably characterize him, the United States the Intelligence Community, would characterize him as the cfo of size is. He was the one responsible for all the oil and gas revenue. Which is clearly the primary source of their ability to conduct operations. So the fact that the United StatesIntelligence Community and with support of others were able to zero in on his location clearly there was some confirming intelligence that gave the United States the likelihood of good reward. That gave the authorization to execute this raid. A shot from a drone or from some other type of aircraft or some other means. So given he would have so much information, why in your view would he be taken out . And the other prize i spoke with you know Nick Paton Walsh about this the other prize being the other kind of evidence that may in that compound such as cell phones and computers and that information, is something that the special ops forces leave, not empty handed at all. Not at all. Clearly the objective was framed in what we know as a kill or capture. The commander on the ground the senior person on the ground has the authority to make the decision if its going to be one or the other. And the circumstances as described, as we understand them now, is that there had to be the order to kill because of the resistance that was provided. But following that there was the capture of his wife who ostensibly is deeply involved in his former activities not only as the cfo should they feel confident that she will talk . Youre never confident that anybody is going to talk. Thats why you have interrogators and thats why there will be a period of interrogation. Shes being interrogated right now in a facility in iraq protected by the United States outside protected by the iraqis. With the full understanding that they need to get information from her. But theres also a deep exploitation thats taking place right now, fredricka, on all the intelligence that the special operators were able to bring back as a result of that raid. Like what . How would they do that . Its phenomenal what theyll probably uncover. This was the c dpmpb o of isis. If all the different verticals and cutouts that you will have in this black organization where command and control is really not known very well the cfo cuts across all of those. This is the individual who is responsible for funding activities for getting revenue. For having the contributors to make sure that isis can continue to exercise the type of activities that they have. So she is available to answer questions. Information that they gathered from the raid will hopefully be able to determine what we would call a target list what the United States would call a target list in terms of what else is out there, that now the United States and its partners can go after, to further degrade isis. And is there great confidence that he is indeed the cfo . Or might there be many cfos, so to speak . You take out one, like abu sayaff and theres somebody else that steps in his place . Well you know most organizations, the cfo is kind of revered as we all know. Im saying that with a bit of a smile. So this is a person who enjoys great access enjoys great power. And in fact has so much information. In many cases albeit everybody is no one is irreplaceable. But in this case the loss of the cfo within isis is a significant damaging result. That is going to put isis on its heels. Its certainly not the end game at all. But we might be moving in a different direction, with the loss of this individual but more importantly, the capturing of the intelligence that will allow the Intelligence Community to get a better picture of who is out there and who is providing funding. Those then become targets to go after again. And you already use the terminology, you said high risk high payoff. That defend this this operation technique. It is high risk to have the personnel choppered in dropped in. As opposed to a missile strike or a drone strike. Which would be broader. This is more of a surgical approach. Why take this kind of approach . Fredricka, the key result that you want from an operation like this is the intelligence that can be derived. If you took a drone strike that would incinerate everything thats there. You would also get into the long debate as to who was on the ground who was targeted what were the results. Who does the dna sampling . How do you understand whats going on . Then you have this game of marketing and dueling thats taking place both from the United States and from isis that says you didnt harm us this was no big deal and were trying and the United States is drying to make this a big deal. It is a big deal. And the United States has been able to take the results of this strike and exploitation is taking place right now, to see if theres Something Else thats actionable that would allow the United States to go back and say look weve got some really good intelligence that the United States can have a restrike. This is an extremely, extremely big grab. I know im getting gruesome with the last question but got to know. Would they remove take the body of abu sayaff . They could. Absolutely. They absolutely could. There certainly would be room for that. They had positive identification on the individual. So i could see taking that individual back for proof of what took place. But more importantly as weve discussed, its the amount of intelligence thats available for future exploitation. All right. Major general spider marks, thanks so much good to see you. Be sure to tune in to cnn at 7 00 p. M. Tomorrow to see Fareed Zakarias special, blindsided how isis shook the world. We talk more about isis but right now we follow new developments into the amtrak crash investigation. An fbi Forensics Team has now been called in to assist investigators. They will be looking into the possibility that some damage to the windshield of the train may have been caused by some sort of projectile hitting the train before it derailed and train 188 could be just one of three trains hit by objects that night. Erin mclaughlin is live for news philadelphia following the investigation. So erin wlarks more do we know about the damage to the windshield . Investigators say theyre very interested in a circular pattern, a fistsized circular pattern markings located on the lower lefthand side of the windshield. They think it may be the result of some sort of projectile that hit the train prior to the crash. And are so interested theyve asked the fbis Forensic Team to come in and analyze those markings further. In addition to that they interviewed yesterday, the assistant conductor who was on board that train, she says that shortly before the crash, she heard radio transmission between the amtrak dispatcher and a, an engineer that was on board a separate septa train, that was in the region. That septa engineer she says she believes told the amtrak dispatcher that a projectile hit his windshield. Now she said that following that she heard from her engineer brandon bastion. This is something that authorities are following up on. Theyre interviewing the septa engineer to try to get more information. Deepening the mystery. Were hearing reports from passengers who were on board a separate amtrak acela train. A third train that night, those passengers said that their train was also struck by some sort of projectile. Fredricka . All right and then erin the ntsb is now interviewed the trains engineer. What more is being learned from him . They said that Brandon Bostian was very cooperative, he was not feeling any sort of fatigue or illness prior to the crash. He said that he they said he demonstrated an Incredible Knowledge of the area as well. But he simply does not remember what happened. The last thing he says he remembers is driving the train through the north philadelphia station, ringing the bell and then Everything Else is just a mass of blank. His Attorney Says is hopeful that once his concussion sub sides, the concussion that he suffered in that crash, that his memory may return. Fredricka . Do we know when service is going to resume . Were talking about the weekend, and you know thousands of people rely on the amtrak northeast corridor every day. But particularly on weekends. When people you know are returning from work or getting ready for the work week. Yeah now we know they are hard at work trying to repair the railroad. Amtrak author