ilyas_eh
Used to be active here!
Yemeni forces 'kill' cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
Tribal sources say that al-Qaeda-linked religious scholar was targeted in air strike on two vehicles in Marib province.
Source:Al-Jazeera
Yemen's defence ministry has reported that al-Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed along with several other fighters.
A statement released to the media on Friday said the dual US-Yemeni citizen was hunted down by Yemeni forces, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of his death.
"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions," said a statement sent by text message to journalists.
Tribal sources told the AFP news agency that Awlaki was killed early on Friday in an air strike that hit two vehicles in Marib province, an al-Qaeda stronghold in central Yemen.
But government officials say he was targeted eight kilometres from the town of Khashef in the province of al-Jawf, just 140km east of Sanaa.
The airplane that carried out the strike was likely to be American, according to tribal sources, who added that US aircraft had been patrolling the skies over Marib for the past several days.
Tribal sources also said Awlaki had relocated from the Shabwa region around three weeks ago.
A US drone aircraft targeted but missed Alwaki in May, and the Yemeni defence ministry had previously announced Awlaki's death late last year.
On December 24, the Yemeni government said he had been killed in an air strike only to admit later that he was still alive.
"He has been a target of US drones at least 3 times,"Hakim al-Masmari, editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Post, told Al Jazeera.
"The Yemeni Government will face a lot of criticism, especially in the south, for allowing US drones to attack Yemeni civilians. But it will not be a blow to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from any perspective. We don't feel they will suffer, because [Awlaki] did not have any real role in [AQAP]."
'Not just a cleric'
US officials say Awlaki spread al-Qaeda's message via a blog, social media posts and email exchanges.
"Mr Awlaki is a problem," US President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said in January 2010. "He's clearly a part of Al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric."
Brennan directly accused Awlaki of having links with Major Nidal Hasan, who is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas in November 2009, and who is set to face trial in a military court on March 5, 2012.
The Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square failed car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired'' by Awlaki after making contact over the internet.
Awlaki may also have had contact with Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Christmas Day plane in 2009, Brennan said.
Obama has accused AQAP of arming and training Abdulmutallab and said the group was also responsible for the October 2010 parcel bomb plot that originated in Yemen.
Two parcels addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago and containing the explosive PETN hidden in ink toner cartridges were found to have been freighted from Sanaa on commercial airlines.
In July 2010, Washington placed Awlaki on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him.
In a video tape posted on websites last May by AQAP, Awlaki urged Muslims serving in the US army to follow Hasan's example, and also defended Abdulmutallab.
'Either us or you'
Viewed as a spiritual mentor, Awlaki is neither a senior Islamic cleric nor the leader of AQAP - that is Nasser al-Wuhayshi.
Eloquent in English and Arabic, Awlaki encouraged attacks on the US and was seen as a man who could draw in more al-Qaeda recruits from Western countries.
Awlaki, the US-born 40-year-old father of five, went a step further in a November internet posting, and called for the murder of any US citizen.
"Do not consult anyone in killing Americans," he said, the US monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported. "Killing the devil does not need any fatwa."
"It's either us or you," Awlaki said, addressing Americans in the video.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra said that Awlaki was instrumental in the growth of "the most aggressive al-Qaeda offshoot outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Our correspondent also said Awlaki was able to evade US efforts to target him due to strong support and protection from his tribe.
Awlaki, wanted dead or alive by the US, was sentenced in absentia in January 2011, to 10 years in jail in connection with the killing of a French engineer.
The court in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, had accused al-Awlaki - believed to have been hiding in southern Yemen at the time - of motivating the crime.
Awlaki was arrested 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 fled to the eastern Shabwa region.
Tribal sources say that al-Qaeda-linked religious scholar was targeted in air strike on two vehicles in Marib province.
Source:Al-Jazeera
Yemen's defence ministry has reported that al-Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed along with several other fighters.
A statement released to the media on Friday said the dual US-Yemeni citizen was hunted down by Yemeni forces, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of his death.
"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions," said a statement sent by text message to journalists.
Tribal sources told the AFP news agency that Awlaki was killed early on Friday in an air strike that hit two vehicles in Marib province, an al-Qaeda stronghold in central Yemen.
But government officials say he was targeted eight kilometres from the town of Khashef in the province of al-Jawf, just 140km east of Sanaa.
The airplane that carried out the strike was likely to be American, according to tribal sources, who added that US aircraft had been patrolling the skies over Marib for the past several days.
Tribal sources also said Awlaki had relocated from the Shabwa region around three weeks ago.
A US drone aircraft targeted but missed Alwaki in May, and the Yemeni defence ministry had previously announced Awlaki's death late last year.
On December 24, the Yemeni government said he had been killed in an air strike only to admit later that he was still alive.
"He has been a target of US drones at least 3 times,"Hakim al-Masmari, editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Post, told Al Jazeera.
"The Yemeni Government will face a lot of criticism, especially in the south, for allowing US drones to attack Yemeni civilians. But it will not be a blow to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from any perspective. We don't feel they will suffer, because [Awlaki] did not have any real role in [AQAP]."
'Not just a cleric'
US officials say Awlaki spread al-Qaeda's message via a blog, social media posts and email exchanges.
"Mr Awlaki is a problem," US President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said in January 2010. "He's clearly a part of Al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric."
Brennan directly accused Awlaki of having links with Major Nidal Hasan, who is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas in November 2009, and who is set to face trial in a military court on March 5, 2012.
The Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square failed car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired'' by Awlaki after making contact over the internet.
Awlaki may also have had contact with Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Christmas Day plane in 2009, Brennan said.
Obama has accused AQAP of arming and training Abdulmutallab and said the group was also responsible for the October 2010 parcel bomb plot that originated in Yemen.
Two parcels addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago and containing the explosive PETN hidden in ink toner cartridges were found to have been freighted from Sanaa on commercial airlines.
In July 2010, Washington placed Awlaki on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him.
In a video tape posted on websites last May by AQAP, Awlaki urged Muslims serving in the US army to follow Hasan's example, and also defended Abdulmutallab.
'Either us or you'
Viewed as a spiritual mentor, Awlaki is neither a senior Islamic cleric nor the leader of AQAP - that is Nasser al-Wuhayshi.
Eloquent in English and Arabic, Awlaki encouraged attacks on the US and was seen as a man who could draw in more al-Qaeda recruits from Western countries.
Awlaki, the US-born 40-year-old father of five, went a step further in a November internet posting, and called for the murder of any US citizen.
"Do not consult anyone in killing Americans," he said, the US monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported. "Killing the devil does not need any fatwa."
"It's either us or you," Awlaki said, addressing Americans in the video.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra said that Awlaki was instrumental in the growth of "the most aggressive al-Qaeda offshoot outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Our correspondent also said Awlaki was able to evade US efforts to target him due to strong support and protection from his tribe.
Awlaki, wanted dead or alive by the US, was sentenced in absentia in January 2011, to 10 years in jail in connection with the killing of a French engineer.
The court in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, had accused al-Awlaki - believed to have been hiding in southern Yemen at the time - of motivating the crime.
Awlaki was arrested 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 fled to the eastern Shabwa region.
