Yemen ‘terror’ suspect in new video
A new recording featuring wanted Yemeni-US religious scholar Anwar al-Awlaki posted on the internet.
 |
| President Barack Obama’s administration has authorised the targeted killing of Yemeni-American Anwar al-Awlaki |
A new video featuring Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American religious scholar who is on a US government kill or capture list, has been posted on the internet.
The video appeared on Al-Shammukh, a website attributed to anti-Western fighters, on Saturday, though it was not immediately clear when it had been taped.
Al-Awlaki, believed to be holed up in a tribal area of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state of Yemen, is considered a dangerous “terrorist” by the US government.
He last wrote a piece for the October issue of Inspire magazine by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight with explosives in his underwear on December 25, al-Awlaki has been accused by the US government of “[involving] himself in every aspect of the supply chain of terrorism – fundraising for terrorist groups, recruiting and training operatives, and planning and ordering attacks on innocents”.
In February, al-Awlaki told Al Jazeera “it would have been better” if Abdulmutallab had targeted a US military plane or base but that his attempted bombing of a civilian airliner was justified because “the American people live [in] a democratic system” and “take part in all [their] government’s crimes”.
In April, a US official said the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, had authorised the targeted killing of Al-Awlaki, after American intelligence agencies concluded the Muslim religious scholar was directly involved in anti-US plots.
And in July, Washington said al-Awlaki was a key leader of AQAP, placing him on a terrorism blacklist, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions with him.
Born in the southwestern US state of New Mexico, al-Awlaki, 39, rose to prominence last year after he was linked to a US army major who shot dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas.