CIA drone kills US-born al-Qaeda cleric in Yemen

ANWAR al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda, was killed in a CIA drone strike in Yemen yesterday, US officials said, removing a "global terrorist" high on a US wanted list.

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.

"He planned and directed attacks against the United States," one US official said. "In addition, Awlaki publicly urged attacks against US persons and interests worldwide and called for violence against Arab governments he judged to be working against al-Qaeda."

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 US raid on his hideout in Pakistan in May.

Awlaki's death could be a boon for US 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.

A Yemeni government statement said Samir Khan, an American of Pakistani origin, and two others were killed with Awlaki. Khan, from North Carolina, was an editor of AQAP's English-language online magazine Inspire, which often published Awlaki's writings.

A Yemeni official said Awlaki had been located based on information obtained from a detained AQAP militant.

US drone aircraft targeted but missed Awlaki in May. The United States has stepped up drone strikes in Yemen to try and keep al-Qaeda off balance and prevent it from capitalising on the strife and chaos gripping the nation that borders oil giant Saudi Arabia and lies near vital shipping routes.

Chief of external operations

A senior US official said Awlaki had orchestrated attacks on US interests as "chief of external operations" for AQAP.

"Awlaki played a significant operational role in the attempted attack on a US airliner in December 2009 (and) helped oversee the October 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices aboard US cargo aircraft," the official said.

Washington also learned that Awlaki sought to use poisons including cyanide and ricin to attack Westerners and exchanged e-mails with a US military psychiatrist later accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood army base in Texas in 2009.

AQAP, which established itself in Yemen after Saudi Arabia defeated a violent al-Qaeda campaign from 2003-6, has emerged as one of the network's most ambitious wings, attempting daring, if unsuccessful, attacks on US and Saudi targets.

Bin Laden's al-Qaeda made its first mark in Yemen with an attack that killed 17 US sailors on the warship Cole in Aden harbour in 2000.

The Yemen embassy in Washington said Awlaki had been killed 8km (five miles) from the town of Khashef in the northern province of Jawf, adjacent to Saudi Arabia, about 140kms east of Sanaa, at about 9.55am (0655 GMT).

AQAP has not acknowledged Awlaki's death. It usually takes a few days to post an Internet response to such killings.

A tribal sheikh in Jawf said Awlaki and three other people had been killed. "We have retrieved their bodies. There was another car that had al-Qaeda members inside it, but they were able to escape," he said, asking not to be named.

A Yemeni official said more details would be announced once the surviving al-Qaeda group had been tracked down.

"If he is dead, Awlaki will be difficult to replace," said Jeremy Binnie, a terrorism and insurgency analyst at IHS Jane's in London. "It's a blow for AQAP's international operations. Awlaki has helped the group build its international profile." Reuters