U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki killed: Yemeni officials

American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who preached terror as the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed in Yemen, the nation’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
The United States regards al-Awlaki, who was believed to be hiding in Yemen, as a terrorist and the biggest threat to its homeland security. Western intelligence officials believe al-Awlaki is a senior leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active al Qaeda affiliates.
Al-Awlaki was killed about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Yemeni town of Khashef, east of the capital city of Sanaa, Mohammed Basha, a Yemen Embassy spokesman in Washington, told CNN. Basha said the operation was launched at about 9:55 a.m. local time, though he did not say what type of operation was conducted or how al-Awlaki was killed.
A senior U.S. administration official confirmed al-Awlaki is dead, though no details surrounding the operation that led to the cleric’s death were released. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to CNN. The official was not authorized to release the information.
Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, al-Awlaki lived in the United State until the age of seven when his family returned to Yemen. Al-Awlaki returned to the United States in 1991 for college and remained until 2002.
It was during that time that as an imam in California and Virginia, al-Awlaki preached to and interacted with three of the September 11 hijackers, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. He publicly condemned the attack afterward.
Al-Awlaki spent 18 months in a Yemeni prison from 2006 to 2007 on kidnapping charges, but was released without going to trial. Al-Awlaki claims that he was imprisoned and held at the request of the United States.
U.S. officials say al-Awlaki helped recruit Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight as it landed in Detroit on December 25, 2009.
The militant cleric is also said to have exchanged e-mails with accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hassan, who is accused of killing a dozen fellow soldiers and a civilian in a rampage at the Texas base.
Early this year, a Yemeni court sentenced al-Awlaki in absentia to 10 years in prison for charges of inciting to kill foreigners.
Prosecutors charged al-Awlaki and two others with « forming an armed gang » to target foreign officers and law enforcement in November.
At a U.S. congressional hearing earlier this year, Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said, « I actually consider al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, with al-Awlaki as a leader within that organization, as probably the most significant threat to the U.S. »
Al-Awlaki narrowly survived an American drone assault in May after he switched vehicles with fellow jihadi, a senior security official told CNN.
Attorneys for al-Awlaki’s father, Dr. Nasser al-Awlaki, tried to persuade U.S. District Court Judge John Bates in Washington to issue an injunction last year preventing the government from the targeted killing of al-Awlaki in Yemen.
But Bates dismissed the case in December, ruling that Nasser al-Awlaki did not have standing to sue.
In a November hearing, lawyers for the U.S. government refused to confirm that the cleric was on a secret « kill list » or that such a list even exists.
cnn.com