Al Qaeda linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki killed in Yemen

Yemen’s Defense Ministry said the Yemeni-American Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed during an airstrike on Friday.

The Yemeni defense ministry said  Al -Awlaki ,40 year old was killed alongwith several other suspected al Qaeda operatives. The United States has al-Awlaki,who has found refuge in Yemen was  on a kill-or-capture list.

Awlaki was the regional commander of Al Qaeda . The US has  warned that al-Awlaki is dangerous, committed to carrying out deadly attacks on Americans and others worldwide.

Yemeni security officials believed Al -Awlaki is thought to have been killed during airstrikes carried out by U.S. aircraft on Friday that targeted  a convoy of cars in the eastern province of   al-Jawf and Marib regions.

After Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad in Pakistan by US Navy SEALS , but the hunt is on for remaining leaders of al-Qaida and the other terrorist groups who continue to pose a threat to Americans.


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Awalaki was linked to the 2009 Christmas Day "underwear bomber" plot -- a narrowly foiled bid to blow up a passenger jet approaching Detroit.

In July,Government-backed Yemeni tribesmen joined the fight against al Qaeda-linked militants in a lawless southern province in Yemen.

Government troops have been struggling to contain Islamic militants in the southern Abyan province after losing control of the provincial capital, Zinjibar, and another town, Jaar, earlier this year.

There are concerns that the Islamic militants linked with al-Qaida are exploiting Yemen's political turmoil and are seeking to expand their influence amid a monthslong popular uprising that seeks to oust Saleh.

Islamic militants have seized control of a number of towns and the provincial capital of the southern province of Abyan.

The West views al-Qaida branch in Yemen as the most active and dangerous, and has been linked to several nearly successful attacks on U.S. targets, including bombs into U.S.-addressed parcels that made it onto cargo flights last year.

Meanwhile Saleh  is still recuperating in Saudi Arabia after a June attack on his compound in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.