CIA drone kills U.S.-born Qaeda cleric Awlaki; Obama says death marks ‘major blow’

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.

One U.S. official tols The Associated Press that the U.S. citizen who edited al-Qaeda magazine was killed with al-Awlaki in the Yemen airstrike.

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.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, said the killing of Awlaqi was “major blow” to al-Qaeda’s Yemeni franchise and vowed to be relentless in destroying global terror networks.

“The death of Awlaqi is a major blow to al-Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate. (It) marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” Obama said.

Obama said Awlaqi was the leader of external operations of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and had taken the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans.

He said Awlaqi’s killing in an air raid in Yemen was a tribute to the U.S. intelligence community and to Yemen’s cooperation with the United States in a common anti-terror campaign.

He also warned that though “weakened,” AQAP was still “dangerous.”

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.

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.

A U.S. 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 capitalizing on the strife and chaos gripping the nation that borders oil giant Saudi Arabia and lies near vital shipping routes.

The death of Awlaqi is a major blow to al-Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate. (It) marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates

U.S. President Barack Obama

“Chief of external operations” for AQAP

“The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions,” Yemen’s Defense Ministry said, according to Reuters.

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

A senior U.S. official said Awlaki had orchestrated attacks on U.S. interests as “chief of external operations” for AQAP.

“Awlaki played a significant operational role in the attempted attack on a U.S. airliner in December 2009 (and) helped oversee the October 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices aboard U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. and Saudi targets.

Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda made its first mark in Yemen with an attack that killed 17 U.S. sailors on the warship Cole in Aden harbor in 2000.

A Yemeni security official said Awlaki, 40, who is of Yemeni descent, was hit in a morning air raid in the northern al-Jawf province adjacent to Saudi Arabia. He said four suspected al-Qaeda members were killed with him.

The Yemen embassy in Washington said Awlaki had been killed 8 km (five miles) from the town of Khashef in Jawf province, about 140 km east of Sana’a, at about 9:55 a.m. (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.

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

A senior U.S. official

“Awlaki will be difficult to replace”

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.”

U.S. authorities have branded Awlaki a “global terrorist” and last year authorized his capture or killing, but Sana’a had previously appeared reluctant to act against him.

Awlaki was not a senior Islamic cleric, nor a commander of AQAP, which is led by a Yemeni named Nasser al-Wuhayshi, but he played a key role in the group’s global outreach.

“Awlaki’s death won’t hurt al-Qaeda’s operations because he didn’t have a leadership role. But the organization has lost an important figure for recruiting people from afar,” said Said Obeid, a Yemeni analyst on al-Qaeda.

Henry Wilkinson, head analyst at risk consultancy Janusian in London, said Awlaki’s demise would have little impact on AQAP’s local operations, but added: “He was a rare talent who could reach out and recruit and mobilize. If the U.S. have killed Awlaki, then they have achieved a major target.”

Opposition groups accuse Saleh of giving militants more leeway in a ploy to frighten Western powers and convince them that he is the best defense against al-Qaeda.

“Awlaki serves the government as a way to scare the West,” said protest organizer Manea al-Mattari. “They want to improve their image in the West after all the killing they have done.”

Thousands of pro- and anti-Saleh demonstrators took to the streets of Sana’a again on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.

Protesters carried 13 bodies, wrapped in Yemeni flags, of people killed in fighting in the capital this week. Asked about Awlaki’s death, one demonstrator said it was irrelevant.

“Nobody cared about his death today and we wonder why the government announced it now. We have much bigger problems than Anwar al-Awlaki,” said Fayza al-Suleimani, 29.

Awlaki’s death won’t hurt al-Qaeda’s operations because he didn’t have a leadership role. But the organization has lost an important figure for recruiting people from afar

Said Obeid, a Yemeni analyst on al-Qaeda