Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born Muslim cleric linked to al-Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, was reportedly killed, along with several of his companions, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said on Friday. "Look!"
"Up in the sky!"
"It's a bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"It's... ummm... an unmanned plane!"
[KABOOM!]
"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki
... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, al-Awlaki is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He is an Islamic holy man who is a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and
UndieboomerUmar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list...
has been killed along with some of his
"We can say no more!"
A senior U.S. official confirmed Awlaki had been killed, according to Rooters. "I can confirm he' s dead," the B.O. regime official said.
"Yep. Deader'n Tut."
But the official would not immediately provide any details of the operation that targeted Awlaki. "I can say no more."
Tribal sources told an Al Arabiya correspondent that two cars suspected of carrying Awlaki and his
U.S. authorities have branded him a "global terrorist" but Sana'a had previously appeared reluctant to act against him.
Eloquent in English and Arabic, Awlaki encouraged attacks on the United States and was seen as a man who could draw in more al-Qaeda recruits from western countries. Washington had linked Awlaki to a shooting rampage in November 2009 at a U.S. army base and to the botched Christmas Day attack that year on a U.S. airliner.
A Yemeni court, under mounting U.S. pressure to fight al-Qaeda after a foiled air cargo bomb plot in late October last year, had ordered his arrest by any means for his alleged al-Qaeda links."Awlaki is a problem," U.S. President Barack
B.O.Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said in January, 2010. "He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in (the) Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He's not just a holy man."
In July, 2010, Washington placed Awlaki on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him. In May last year, the United States said it was actively hunting Awlaki. "He has an agenda just like al-Qaeda to strike targets in Yemen, throughout the world including here in the United States," the White House front man said.
But an Awlaki relative has insisted the imam "is not a fighter of al-Qaeda."
"He is just a preacher," he said.
Awlaki comes from a well-off family. His father is a former minister of agriculture and was the president of the university of Sana'a. He was born in New Mexico in 1971, attended school in Yemen and graduated from Colorado State University in civil engineering. He also holds a master's degree in education leadership from San Diego State University.He made a name for himself delivering sermons in English in mosques across the United States, where he also worked for a charity association founded by Yemeni holy man Abdul Majeed al-Zendani, whom the U.S. government has identified as a "global terrorist."
Awlaki was tossed in the calaboose in Yemen in 2006 for his role in kidnapping the son of a rich Yemeni family and demanding ransom money "to finance al-Qaeda," Yemeni security sources said. Two years later he was set free on condition that he report to police daily, but he decamped to the eastern Shabwa region.
Awlaki went to ground after an air raid on December 24, 2009 struck a meeting of al-Qaeda leaders in Wadi Rafadh, in Shabwa province, killing 34. In May this year, a Yemeni tribal source said Awlaki narrowly beat feet a U.S. drone attack three days after American commandos killed al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden... who now dances with worms...
. The strike in Shabwa was the first reported U.S. targeting of other key figures in the terror network after a commando raid killed bin Laden inside Pakistain on May 2.
Awlaki was married with five children.