Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Islamist militant, was killed in Yemen on Friday in a CIA drone strike described by President Barack Obama as "another significant milestone" in efforts to defeat al Qaeda. Awlaki's killing deprives the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) of its "chief of external operations", and an eloquent propagandist in English and Arabic who was implicated in attacks on the United States.
"This is further proof that al Qaeda and its affiliates will have no safe haven anywhere in the world," Obama said, adding that Awlaki's death was a result of the government of Yemen joining international efforts against the militants. A US official said Awlaki, born in 1971, had planned and directed attacks against the United States. "In addition, Awlaki publicly urged attacks against US persons and interests world-wide and called for violence against Arab governments he judged to be working against al Qaeda," the official said.
Yemen's embassy in Washington said Awlaki had been killed some miles from the town of Khashef in the northern province of Jawf, adjacent to Saudi Arabia, at about 9:55 am (0655 GMT). "We found his body in pieces," said Abubakr al-Awlaki, a leader of the Awalik tribe, to which Awlaki belongs. "Why kill him in this brutal, ugly way? Killing him will not solve their problem with al Qaeda, it will just increase their strength and sympathy for (AQAP) in this region."
Earlier in his career, Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, preached at mosques in the United States attended by some of the hijackers in the September 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 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 Yemen, which borders oil giant Saudi Arabia and lies near vital shipping routes.
CARGO PLANE PLOT Awlaki orchestrated plots to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner in 2009 and US cargo planes in 2010, officials said. "With the attempted Detroit bombing and the aeroplane cargo bomb plots he has demonstrated his intent and ability to cause mass terror, whilst his murderous ideology was responsible for inspiring terrorist attacks in the UK and the US," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.
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. An official familiar with British counter-terrorism activities said Awlaki had been in contact with former British Airways employee Rajib Karim, who was convicted in February on terrorism charges, while a woman who stabbed a British member of parliament who voted for the Iraq War was inspired by Awlaki's sermons. 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. 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.