AFP
Anwar al-Awlaki was one of al-Qaida’s most important propagandists and influenced a number of attackers and jihadists, including two Germans. Now the Yemeni and US governments have confirmed that he has been killed in an air strike along with a second US citizen.
In January 2009, Anwar al-Awlaki supposedly had a chance to get out. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, Yemeni government intermediaries had secretly conveyed an offer to the jihadist hate preacher granting him amnesty if he only said a single sentence: “I do not belong to al-Qaida.”
At the time, al-Awlaki had already been hiding in the vast Yemeni desert for a while. But he refused to say the sentence. Since then, the 40-year-old has been hunted by both the Yemeni military and the United States.
Now, a range of media sources are citing Yemeni and US government officials as saying that al-Awlaki was killed on Friday in an air strike. But it is still unclear exactly who really launched the strike, though presumably it was a US drone that brought him down.
Still, neither members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) nor al-Awlaki’s locally important and influential family have confirmed reports of his death.
*Samir Khan, a young American of Saudi origin, was apparently killed alongside al-Awlaki. Khan is thought to have been the publisher of the English-language online magazine Inspire, launched by AQAP. Khan had relocated to Yemen over a year ago.
At this time, it is unclear whether the people behind the attack knew it was likely to kill Khan as well. Although Khan had yet to be implicated in any terror plots, he is thought to have been trying to recruit terrorists and instigate attacks.
Read More: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0%2c1518%2c789427%2c00.html#ref%3dnlint
*Samir Khan
Second edition: The magazine (left) includes an article by Samir Khan (right) who writes at his pride at leaving the U.S. and joining Al Qaeda
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