Anwar al-Awlaki
Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) — American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — whose fluency in English and technology made him one of the top terrorist recruiters in the world — was killed Friday in an airstrike in Yemen, officials said. [1]
Anwar al-Awlaki is believed to have inspired some of the recent plots against the U.S., including the failed Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner heading for Detroit, Mich. [2]
Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda, was killed in a CIA drone strike in Yemen on Friday, U.S. officials said, removing a ‘global terrorist’ high on a U.S. wanted list. [3]
In this image taken from video and released by SITE Intelligence Group, Anwar al-Awlaki speaks in a video message posted on radical websites in November, 2010. [4]
AP - Yemen’s Defense Ministry said Friday that the U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed. [5]
Anwar al-Awlaki was a radical American-born Muslim cleric who became a leading figure in Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. [...] A product both of Yemen’s deeply conservative religious culture and freewheeling American ways, Mr. Awlaki hesitated to shake hands with women but patronized prostitutes. [6]
Earlier in his career, Awlaki preached at mosques in the United States attended by some of the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaeda, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed in a U.S. raid on his hideout in Pakistan in May. [3]
The Yemeni government announced that al-Awlaki was “targeted and killed” around 9:55 a.m outside the town of Khashef in mountainous Jawf province, 87 miles east of the capital Sanaa. [2]
Awlaki’s death could be a boon for U.S. President Barack Obama and for his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is clinging to power despite months of popular protests, factional violence and international pressure. [3]
In a significant new blow to al-Qaida, U.S. airstrikes in the mountains of Yemen on Friday killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American militant cleric who became a prominent figure in the terror network’s most dangerous branch, using his fluent English and Internet savvy to draw recruits for attacks in the United States. [2]
Yemeni security and tribal officials said an airstrike thought to have been carried out by U.S. aircraft on Friday targeted a convoy of cars traveling in the eastern province of Marib but could not say whether al-Awlaki was in the convoy. [5]
Awlaki’s killing deprives the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) of an eloquent propagandist in English and Arabic who was implicated in attacks on the United States. [3]
A “successful joint intelligence-sharing operation” between Yemen and the United States led to the attack that killed al-Awlaki, a Yemeni government official said Friday. [1]
In April 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama approved Al-Awlaki’s targeted killing, a first for an American citizen, and a move unsuccessfully challenged by al-Awlaki’s father and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). [7]
Sources:
[1] U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki killed: Yemeni …
[2] Yemen: Anwar Al-Awlaki, U.S.-Born Cleric Linked To Al-Qaida …
[3] American-born al-Qaeda cleric Awlaki killed: Yemeni defense …
[4] Yemen Says Al-Awlaki, Al-Qaida’s English-Speaking Voice, Is …
[5] Radical US-born cleric al-Awlaki reportedly killed - YEMEN …
[6] Anwar al-Awlaki - The New York Times
[7] Anwar al-Awlaki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia