Yemen: Drone kills Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaqi

The defence ministry in Sanaa said he was killed along with several other suspected Al-Qaeda operatives on Friday, and tribal sources said he died in a strike on two vehicles in Marib province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold in eastern Yemen.

Awlaqi was charged in November in Yemen for alleged ties with Al-Qaeda and incitement to kill foreigners.

Washington had linked the imam and son of a former Yemeni government minister to a shooting rampage in November 2009 at a US army base and to a botched Christmas Day attack that year on a US airliner.

A Yemeni court, under mounting US pressure to fight Al-Qaeda after a foiled air cargo bomb plot in late October last year, had ordered his arrest by any means for his alleged Al-Qaeda links.

“Mr Awlaqi 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 (AQAP). He s not just a cleric.”

Brennan directly accused Awlaqi of having links with Major Nidal Hasan who is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas, and who is set to face trial in a military court on March 5, 2012.

Awlaqi may also have had contact with Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to blow up the Christmas Day plane, Brennan said.

Obama has accused AQAP of arming and training Abdulmutallab and said the group was also responsible for last October s parcel bomb plot, which 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 Awlaqi on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him.

In a video tape posted by AQAP on jihadist websites in May last year Awlaqi, who is in his late 30s, urged Muslims serving in the US army to follow Hasan s example and also defended Abdulmutallab.

Awlaqi, in a later Internet posting in November, went a step further 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 (religious edict),” he added. “It s either us or you,” Awlaqi said, addressing Americans in the video.

In May last year, the United States said it was actively hunting Awlaqi. “He has an agenda just like Al-Qaeda to strike targets in Yemen, throughout the world including here in the United States,” the White House spokesman said.

But an Awlaqi relative has insisted the imam “is not a fighter of Al-Qaeda.” “He is just a preacher,” he said.
Awlaqi comes from a well-off family. His father is a former minister of agriculture and was the president of the university of Sanaa.

He was born in the US state of New Mexico in 1971, attended school in Yemen and graduated from Colorado State University in civil engineering. He also holds a master s degree in education leadership from San Diego State University.

He made a name for himself delivering sermons in English in mosques across the United States, where he also worked for a charity association founded by Yemeni cleric Abdul Majeed al-Zendani, whom the US government has identified as a “global terrorist.”

Awlaqi met two of the bombers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon building in the United States on September 11, 2001, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.

Awlaqi 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.
Awlaqi went to ground after an air raid on December 24, 2009 struck a meeting of Al-Qaeda leaders in Wadi Rafadh, in Shabwa province, killing 34.

In May this year, a Yemeni tribal source said Awlaqi narrowly escaped a US drone attack three days after American commandos killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The strike in Shabwa was the first reported US targeting of other key figures in the terror network after a commando raid killed bin Laden inside Pakistan on May 2.

Awlaqi was married with five children.

Drone attack kills 10 Al Qaeda suspects in Yemen

Ten Al Qaeda suspects were killed while a top leader in the network escaped death as US drones carried out several air strikes on their strongholds in Yemen s south, local officials said Wednesday 21/9/2011.

“US drones carried out two air strikes on Al-Mahfad (in the southern Abyan province) where Al-Qaeda militants — among them Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula s (AQAP) number two Saeed al-Shehri — are present,” said a local official in the village.

Four suspected militants were killed while Shehri escaped, said the well-informed official who requested anonymity.

Another local official from the town of Shaqra — controlled by the militants since June — said that six other “Al-Qaeda gunmen” were killed and three were wounded in two separate air raids on the town.

Since anti-government protests swept Yemen in late January, militants have taken advantage of the weakening of central authority to set up base in several southern provinces as well as Marib province in the east.

In May, a group who name themselves the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic Law), believed to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, seized control of many regions across Abyan province.

Washington and other Western governments have repeatedly expressed growing concern about the role Al-Qaeda might play in Yemen if the regime of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh collapses and a power vacuum ensues.

Late on Tuesday, the Washington Post said that the United States is building an array of secret new drone bases to conduct strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in Somalia and Yemen.

The Post said the United States is also conducting drone missions over Yemen and Somalia from Djibouti, seeking to weaken Al-Qaeda affiliates in both countries.

“It s a conscious recognition that those are the hot spots developing right now,” it quoted a former senior US military official as saying.

The United States regularly launches drone strikes against suspected militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where it claims to have greatly degraded Al-Qaeda s core leadership.

Al Qaeda number two killed in drone attack

 According to reports, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was killed in Pakistan in another big blow to the terrorist group that the US believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday.

The Libyan national who was the network s former operational leader rose to Al Qaeda s No. 2 spot after the US killed Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in May.

As per media report, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that Al Qaeda s defeat was within reach if the US could mount a string of successful attacks on the group s weakened leadership.

Al-Rahman was killed Aug 22 in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, the official disclosed Saturday on condition of anonymity.

The official would not say how al-Rahman was killed. But his death came on the same day that a CIA drone strike was reported in Waziristan.

Al-Rahman, believed to be in his mid-30s, was a close confidant of bin Laden and once served as bin Laden s emissary to Iran. Born in Libya, al-Rahman joined bin Laden as a teenager in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union.

We will protest in Karachi if drone attacks continue: Imran Khan

Addressing a gathering in the Keamari area in Karachi, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chief Imran Khan said that so far 34,000 innocent people have been killed in the drone attacks. He said that now if the drone attacks continued, they would protest in Karachi.

Imran Khan said that the time for a political change has come and he would not rest until his party comes in power and repulse all American agents working in Pakistan.

Imran Khan said that after the PTI comes in power, they would collect taxes from landlords. He also said that the increase in petroleum prices would affect the middle and the poor class the most.

Drone attacks proving counter-productive: Gilani

trendpk.com: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday assured that a great number of terrorists strongholds have been eliminated.

Talking to media outside Multan Airport, Gilani called upon the people to intimate the police or law enforcement agencies if they suspect any presence of terrorists around their houses or else.

Regarding the drone attacks, the PM maintained that, the drone attacks are proving to be counter-productive and we have asked the US to give us the said technology. The premier said that efforts are on to improve the countrys economy.We will take all the political parties on board before the Council of Economic Coordination meeting, the PM stated. When his attention was drawn towards Shahzain Bugtis arrest and the subsequent situation, Gilani said that he would talk to Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani in this respect. Balochis are patriotic people, we respect them we dont support the imprisonment of any innocent person, the PM said.

Khyber Agency: 7 killed in drone attacks

At least 7 people including two commanders of banned Lashkar-e-Islam were killed in two drone attacks in Khyber Agency, on Friday.

According to official sources, first US drone fired 5 missiles at the hideout of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant outfit, killing 5 persons at the spot.

Other drone attack targeted Lashkar-e-Islam hideout in Qom Sipah Sandana area of Bara in which two commanders of Lashkar-e-Islam were killed. Fear and panic prevailed in the area as there was possibility of further drone attack.

North Waziristan: Mir Ali Drone Attack, 5 killed, 1 Injured

News Trends: In the area of Haider Khel, surrounding area of Mir Ali, a US drone attacked a house due to which 5 people got killed and 1 was injured.

US drone fired four missiles on a house located in Haider Khel, Mir Ali and the house was completely destroyed. According to local sources, it is reported that 5 miscreants got killed and 1 was injured in this drone attack; where as an increase in deaths is expected. Sources also told that 5 drones are still hovering over this area due to which people are frightened and rescue operation can not be initiated. Local miscreants have surrounded the destroyed house, sources added.

North Waziristan: 5 killed and 4 injured in a drone attack

In North Waziristan, during last 24 hours, 5 persons have been killed and 4 injured in the third drone attack.
The US drone targeted a house in the area of Ismael Khel, located in Datta Khel, a border area of North Waziristan, and fired two missiles. This drone attack took place at 6 am today and suspected house was the main target.

North Waziristan: 5 killed and 4 injured in a drone attack

In North Waziristan, during last 24 hours, 5 persons have been killed and 4 injured in the third drone attack.
The US drone targeted a house in the area of Ismael Khel, located in Datta Khel, a border area of North Waziristan, and fired two missiles. This drone attack took place at 6 am today and suspected house was the main target.

North Waziristan: 6 killed in drone attack

In North Waziristan, 6 people including some foreigners and miscreants got killed in a US drone attack.
According to official sources, a US drone fired 6 missiles on a house and a car in the area of Sanzlai of Tehsil Ditta Khail, some 50 kilometers from Miranshah. As a result of this attack, 6 miscreants got killed. The US drone kept hovering over the area even after the attack. It is also known that 3 foreigners also got killed in this drone attack.

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