Or it was the people he has been working with or working for eliminating loose ends before somebody else might be able to get to them and maybe make a deal and they'd talk.

The news say that one of the people rescued was a year old baby. I know that wars can not be fought without collateral damage, but I still hope that the Space Force might be a bit more selective as to when they might target somebody, in order to avoid that collateral damage as much as possible.