SANA, Yemen — Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a leading figure in Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate and was considered its most dangerous English-speaking propagandist and plotter, was killed in an American drone strike on his vehicle on Friday, officials in Washington and Yemen said. They said the strike also killed a radical American colleague who was an editor of Al Qaeda’s online jihadist magazine.

Many details of the strike were unclear, but one American official said that Mr. Awlaki, whom the United States had been hunting in Yemen for more than two years, had been identified as the target in advance and was killed with a Hellfire missile fired from a drone operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. The official said it was the first C.I.A. strike in Yemen since 2002. Yemen’s Defense Ministry confirmed Mr. Awlaki’s death.

The strike appeared to be the first time in the American-led war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that an American citizen had been deliberately killed by American forces, a step that has raised contentious constitutional issues in the United States. It was also the second high-profile killing of an Al Qaeda leader in the past five months under the Obama administration, which ordered the American commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May.

Mr. Awlaki was an important member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, regarded by some antiterrorism experts as the most dangerous branch of the Al Qaeda network. He was considered the inspirational or operational force behind a number of major plots aimed at killing Americans in the United States in recent years, most notably the deadly assault at an American army base in Fort Hood, Tex., and attempts to bomb Times Square and a Detroit-bound jetliner.

“The death of Awlaki is a major blow to Al Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate,” President Obama said in remarks at a swearing-in ceremony for the new Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, outside Washington. Mr. Obama said the cleric had taken “the lead role in planning and directing the efforts to murder innocent Americans.”

Mr. Obama also called Mr. Awlaki “the leader of external operations for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” — the first time the United States has used that description of him.

Yemen’s official news agency, Saba, reported that the attack also killed Samir Khan, an American citizen of Pakistani origin who was an editor of Inspire, Al Qaeda’s English-language Internet magazine. An American official said the United States government believed Mr. Khan had been killed as well. It was not clear whether Mr. Khan, who proclaimed in the magazine last year that he was “proud to be a traitor to America,” was also a deliberate target of the strike.

A Yemeni Defense Ministry statement said that a number of Mr. Awlaki’s bodyguards were also killed.

Neither the Americans nor the Yemenis explained precisely how they knew that Mr. Awlaki had been confirmed dead.

The strike came in the midst of a deepening political crisis in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, where President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been resisting repeated calls to relinquish power — including from the United States. Mr. Saleh has argued that he is critical to the intensifying American efforts to battle Al Qaeda here.

An Awlaki family member, reached by telephone, said Mr. Awlaki’s father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was en route from Yemen’s capital, Sana, to the site of the attack in northern Yemen on Friday afternoon to identify the body. “We don’t know anything aside from the news that has been released,” the family member said. “Obviously Mr. Awlaki is very upset and wants very much to find out if it is truly his son that has been killed. We don’t know if any relatives died with him.”

The White House decision to make Mr. Awlaki a top priority to be hunted down and killed was controversial, given his American citizenship.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought unsuccessfully in the American court system to challenge the government’s legal justification for its so-called targeted killings program, which was used to take aim at Mr. Awlaki, condemned that program in reaction to the news of Mr. Awlaki’s death. “As we’ve seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts,” Jameel Jaffer, the A.C.L.U.’s deputy legal director, said in a statement.

A high-ranking Yemeni security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Mr. Awlaki was killed while traveling between Marib and al-Jawf provinces in northern Yemen — areas known for having a Qaeda presence and little central government control.




nytimes

bottom line: we need drones in nigeria.

Another one bit the dust

NICE one GOD punish dem 1by1 useless people

Thank God,

NICE one GOD punish dem 1by1 useless
people
Like wise one bro

Good for him.

Hallelujah in the highest.

Na so de go de die, both hia & yonder

Neither the Americans nor the Yemenis explained precisely how they knew that Mr. Awlaki had been confirmed dead.

Let the Al Qaeda confirm it first, before we believe it.

I dey laugh oo. See how America dey celebrate as if they killed a nation, just one man.

If he was truly killed, many people will replace him except if there is justice, certainly there will be peace.

Islam is evil,pure and simple!!

juman:

Let the Al Qaeda confirm it first, before we believe it.

I dey laugh oo. See how America dey celebrate as if they killed a nation, just one man.

If he was truly killed, many people will replace him[b] except if there is justice, certainly there will be peace.[/b]

Oga, which justice are you talking about? Who is being unjust and how

juman:

Let the Al Qaeda confirm it first, before we believe it.

I dey laugh oo. See how America dey celebrate as if they killed a nation, just one man.

[b]If he was truly killed, many people will replace him [/b]except if there is justice, certainly there will be peace.

He will be replaced and whoever places him will bit the dust as well.

chamber2:

Oga, which justice are you talking about? Who is being unjust and how

America know this nah. Muslims are not been treated well, by the arrogant power.

justwise:

He will be replaced and whoever places him will bit the dust as well.

I dey laugh oooooooo.

Do you know how long America pursue this single man? Indeed "superpower". Again I dey laugh ooo.

juman:

America know this nah. Muslims are not be treated well, by the arrogant power.

How are muslims not being treated well? What rights and privileges are Muslims denied? What of Christians in other Islamic states, are they being treated well there?

You better throw this your primitive mentality to the trash bin

chamber2:

How are muslims not being treated well? What rights and privileges are Muslims denied? What of Christians in other Islamic states, are they being treated well there?

You better throw this your primitive mentality to the trash bin

America leaders are religious fanatics. See how they were/are operating.

Just for a time. Not forever. I dey laugh ooo.

juman:

America know this nah. Muslims are not be treated well, by the arrogant power.

I dey laugh oooooooo.

Do you know how long America pursue this single man? Indeed "superpower". Again I dey laugh ooo.

Its about how long they pursued him, the issue is that he is gone for good. He wasn't living openly anyway, the fool was hiding from one hole to another, him and other brainwashed muppets were cleared at one go.

Good job, let wait for another little man that will take his place.

juman:

America leaders are religious fanatics. See how they were/are operating.

Just for a time. Not forever. I dey laugh ooo.

You can actually help ur brothers by moving to Pakistan or Afghanistan to join ur brothers, become suicide bomber(as usual) and inherit 7 virgins when you kill urself. Sounds good right?

juman:

Let the Al Qaeda confirm it first, before we believe it.

I dey laugh oo. See how America dey celebrate as if they killed a nation, just one man.

If he was truly killed, many people will replace him except if there is justice, certainly there will be peace.

juman:

America know this nah. Muslims are not been treated well, by the arrogant power.

I dey laugh oooooooo.

Do you know how long America pursue this single man? Indeed "superpower". Again I dey laugh ooo.

Another Abdul Mutallab in disguise
I would have given you my 2 cents to help you see reason,  but you chaps are too lost to irrationality & delusion 

Boko Haram are you listening?

Awlaki gets unlucky this time. He was pick-up by a drone. next is Juman!

If the Yemenis ain't complaining the 'intrusion' why the hopeless activists come dey kpara? Like the Awlaki would differentiate btw good and 'bad' Americans.
Juman, get that America has messed with the Arab world, but what you need to ealise is that this path oif hate will destroy both sides. Both sides are equally guilty.

Guys, this man was actually Abdul Mutallab's {the underwear bomber} mentor. Glory be to God.

Yea He was a U.S Citizen . . . Just was . . . He renounced the USA a long time ago, he was at best a traitor and an enemy combatant and he got what he deserved.

I find it more disturbing to refer to this piece of hate as an American. Good riddance to bad trash.

see as all the alqeida members for NL just dey look for different excuses,you are next

juman:

America know this nah. Muslims are not been treated well, by the arrogant power.

i notice you didnt respond to chamber's question on this. Of course i'm sure by the above you mean America has not built a mosque at the white house and passed laws that islam is the dominant religion in Washington DC while pushing jews to dhimmi status.

Abeg. Just dey kpai this al-qaeda bastards to be continued,

Hope their lost cousins from another dimension up there in the North
won't go about blowing e'ry one up in retaliation

I dislike all these terrorists, they are stains to Islam. Useless propagandists.

Good Riddance to Bad Trash,
ALQAEDA JUST GOT SERVED AGAIN,

umechuma:

Islam is evil,pure and simple!!

Now Who The F Are YOU ?

Just Like How You Have It In Your Religion Is How We Have It In Our Religion Too, Fake People Claming They Are Doing Things In The Cause Of God But Then They Are Just Bulsh!tting, This Guys Are Terrorist & They`re Soo Gone Astray, Insane, And They Have Nothing To Do With ISLAM so Please I Beg You Not To Think Of My Religion That Way, Islam Is Peace,Pure & Very Simple


B!tch Your Time Don End,, Na You & Baba God Remain On Top All The Innocent Lives You Killed !!!!

Oga, which justice are you talking about? Who is being unjust and how Huh

America know this nah. Muslims are not been treated well, by the arrogant power.

Quote from: justwise on October 01, 2011, 02:12 PM
He will be replaced and whoever places him will bit the dust as well.

I dey laugh oooooooo.

Do you know how long America pursue this single man? Indeed "superpower". Again I dey laugh ooo.

Junah or whatever your name is,

What injustice ?

What else do you muslins want from america ?

They use their federal reserve to build beautiful and big mosque for you people.

Did americans (who are cristians) use state money to build church ?

Yet, you are claiming injustice ? what injustice ?

They respect and defend muslims. Has saudi, Iran and others use their country money to build church for their christians ?

The bottomline is
You people see America as a strong Christian nation that hinder your jihad war. That is why you want to kill them by all means.
You are not seeking for any justice. Their is nothing america can do appease or please you people. You just want them down.

Is it only america ? In india you people kill hindus everyday. What has hindu people done to offend you ?

In China, you people kill the budist everyday. What have they also done to you ?

In africa you kill your fellow africans who are not muslims everyday. What have they done to offend you ?

The same goes to the jew.

The point is, you just want to murder everbody else.

But another funny thing is "You murder yourself too (Shiite/Sunni/Jurdish/Shia/Bathi e.t.c)

The religion is all about death and murder.

Now Who The F Are YOU ?

Just Like How You Have It In Your Religion Is How We Have It In Our Religion Too, Fake People Claming They Are Doing Things In The Cause Of God But Then They Are Just Bulsh!tting, This Guys Are Terrorist & They`re Soo Gone Astray, Insane, And They Have Nothing To Do With ISLAM so Please I Beg You Not To Think Of My Religion That Way, Islam Is Peace,Pure & Very Simple Wink


B!tch Your Time Don End,, Na You & Baba God Remain On Top All The Innocent Lives You Killed !!!!

And one funny enough is

Your mohamad (Piss be upon him) was a psychopath and pedophile. He lived an unholy life. Yet, you people still follow him. Oyedepo (one of you fake pastor) is better than him. Oyedepo preach love, improved people's life.

What has mohamad done ? I dont have to say it the bloodprint and footprints are everywhere. You see what the whole world is saying about islam.

Like religion like the founder! We shall know them by their fruit.

Can you compare Jesus with mohamad? No, Jesus lived a holy life without a sin (mohamad even said and confirm it read your quran. I can give you a quote from the quran if you want). It is just like comparing a drunkard with a pastor.

Why choosing a sinner as a role model and prophet.

It is ilogical, i dont know why you people still follow him despite knowing his evil ways