Al-Awlaki killing leaves gaping hole in terrorist leadership, say experts

Jim Kouri, Law Enforcement Examiner

October 2, 2011

It's believed that Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was born and raised in New Mexico, was the head of AQAP. Intelligence exists that asserts he preached to two of the 9/11 hijackers at a San Diego mosque, as well. So his death has left a gaping hole in that terrorist group's leadership," said former military intelligence officer and police lieutenant Stan Rodgers.

In the wake of al-Qaeda losing yet another leader when Anwar al-Awlaki was killed on Thursday, and as many of the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa are in a state of flux with old leaders being deposed and replaced with fledgling governments, so too is the world of Islamic terrorism going through a transition.

Even as the United States and allied forces dismantle the core of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, intelligence officials are studying the degree to which terrorist splinter groups are working together, according to Lisa Daniel of the American Forces Press Service on Wednesday.

“They’ll remain a concern,” one of three Defense Department officials told Pentagon reporters during an afternoon "background briefing" to explain the nature of regionalized, radical Islamist groups that have proliferated in the Middle East and North Africa.

“There is an element of defeating the organization … that is separate from the ideological component. You can get them to be operationally incapable, but that doesn’t destroy the idea of al-Qaeda,” said a Pentagon official.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) secured a foothold in the southern province of Abyan when a political revolution took hold in the country last spring. The national government, in recent weeks, has refocused its military forces away from domestic turmoil to lead a strong counteroffensive against the terrorist group in Abyan, Daniels reported.

“That’s a good sign,” an official said, noting that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has plotted sophisticated attacks against the United States.

“They’re intent on external operations and brag about it,” he added, noting that an English-language magazine the group publishes contains articles that teach bomb-making skills and encourage terrorism against the United States.

"It's believed that Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was born and raised in New Mexico, was the head of AQAP. Intelligence exists that asserts he preached to two of the 9/11 hijackers at a San Diego mosque, as well. So his death has left a gaping hole in that terrorist group's leadership," said former military intelligence officer and police lieutenant Stan Rodgers.

In a congressional hearing just two weeks ago, CIA Director David H. Petreaus called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula “the most dangerous regional node in the global jihad.”

The group has strengthened in Yemen, but so, too, has the national government in its counterterrorism measures, an official in Wednesday’s background briefing said.

The officials confirmed that terrorist groups also are trying to gain hold in Libya, where the Libyan Transition National Council recently drove Moammar Gadhafi from power. “They’re always looking for a target of opportunity,” one official said.

So far, however, the council has rejected them, the officials said. “It certainly seems that they have gone to great lengths to disassociate themselves,” one official said of the council.

Terrorist groups have expanded in other parts of North Africa, though, including al Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an Algerian-based group believed to be working with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. “We’ve definitely seen the cross-pollination of TTP and AQIM,” an official said.

These groups form temporary alliances, but mostly are focused on their own regional issues and have not formed large mergers, the officials said.

“These groups have more differences in their foundations and ideologies than commonalities,” the senior official said. “But they do make these temporary alliances of convenience, and they have common enemies.”

He said he is optimistic it will stay that way.

“I wouldn’t go down this ‘Legion of Doom’ theory, where they’re all going to sort of join hands,” the senior official said. “The timing doesn’t work for them, and they go back on their own.”

Yemeni jet mistakenly bombs army post, kills 30

October 2, 2011 (AP)

SANAA, Yemen — A government warplane mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more, military and medical officials said Sunday.

The officials said the bombing, which took place on Saturday evening in the southern Abyan province, targeted an abandoned school used as shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade. The school is located just east of Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, where militants linked to al-Qaida have been in control since May.

Heavy fighting has been raging in the area for days as part of the army's monthslong campaign to seize back Zinjibar from the militants.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said there were unconfirmed reports that militants arrived at the school soon after the airstrike and killed an unspecified number of wounded troops.

The school is in the Bagdar area, along the frontline between Yemeni forces and militants. On Saturday, fighting in Zinjibar killed at least 28 soldiers and militants.

The 119th Brigade has rebelled against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to join the protest movement demanding his ouster. It is thought to have received significant support from the U.S. military to enable it to fight the militants in the south more efficiently.

The airstrike is likely to hurt the morale of Yemeni soldiers as they try to battle their way into Zinjibar and other areas in Abyan under the militants' control.

It may also raise questions about whether the bombing was a mistake since the troops that were hit had sided against Saleh in the country's political crisis.

Forces loyal to Saleh have also been battling renegade troops from another army unit, the elite 1st Armored Division, that defected to the opposition in March, with the two sides exchanging shells and rockets across Sanaa, Yemen's capital, for weeks now.

Yemen's crisis began in February, when protesters inspired by Arab uprisings across the region took to the streets to demand Saleh step down after 33 years in office. Fighting also erupted between government forces and anti-Saleh tribes, and al-Qaida linked militants have taken advantage of the turmoil to overrun parts of the south.

Yemen's turmoil is of huge concern to the United States and Europe because the country has become a haven for Islamic militants, including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which Washington says is the most dangerous remnant of the global terror network.

The airstrike near Zinjibar came after a U.S. drone strike in the al-Jawf province to the east of Sanaa on Friday killed three key figures of Yemen's al-Qaida branch.

The three were U.S.-born cleric and al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki; Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American who produced the terror group's English-language Web magazine, Inspire; and Ibrahim al-Asiri, an al-Qaida's bomb-maker linked to Nigerian underwear bomber accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

The three were traveling in a two-car convoy in eastern Yemen when the drone hit.

Tribal elders on Sunday said there may have been a third car, which escaped the strike. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals for speaking to the media.

Actually, Yemeni government denied the report. Fatik

US drone strike may have killed Saudi bomber

Brian Bennett, Washington

October 2, 2011

IN THE wake of the US drone strike in Yemen that killed two key American members of al-Qaeda, US intelligence officials are trying to confirm reports that an inventive Saudi bomb maker for the terrorist organisation was among the dead.

News reports said one of at least two other men killed in the CIA-led operation on Friday was Ibrahim Hassan Asiri, a fugitive whose signature bomb-making style has linked him to multiple attacks that were directed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The American strike on a convoy in northern Yemen killed US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as well as Samir Khan, an American citizen who published an online magazine that gave instructions on how to launch attacks inside the US.

US intelligence officials said they were investigating reports of Asiri's death but had not confirmed that he had been killed.

The strike came a week after the return to Yemen of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been recovering in Saudi Arabia from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt and whose resignation after 33 years of autocratic rule has been demanded by a large protest movement in Yemen, the political opposition, regional powers and the US.

The timing of the airstrikes fuelled speculation that President Saleh, who has frequently portrayed himself as an essential bulwark against al-Qaeda, had handed over al-Awlaki in order to reduce US pressure on him to leave.

US officials said there was no connection between President Saleh's return and the airstrikes. They said US and Yemeni security forces had been hunting al-Awlaki for nearly two years, and that new information about his location surfaced about three weeks ago.

Although Yemen did not carry out the strike, Yemeni officials were quick to trumpet the results. A high-ranking Yemeni security official called The New York Times about 20 minutes after the attack.

Asiri is known for hiding bombs in imaginative ways to evade security procedures. FBI bomb analysts believe that Asiri designed and built bombs that were hidden in printer cartridges in October 2010 and shipped as cargo intended for US targets, including a Jewish centre in Chicago.

Asiri's fingerprint was found on the bomb hidden in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who successfully smuggled a device through airport security in Amsterdam on Christmas Day 2009 and boarded a flight bound for Detroit. He was restrained by passengers and the airline crew after the bomb failed to detonate properly.

Yemeni Soldiers Killed in al-Qaida Raid

Sana'a, October 1, 2011- Yemeni officials say at least three soldiers were killed in a operation to root out suspected al-Qaida militants on Saturday, a day after officials announced the death of a radical cleric linked to the terrorist group.

Officials say the soldiers died after clashes erupted during an operation in the volatile city of Zinjibar. Security forces have been trying to regain control of the southern city, which was seized by militants in May.

The raid was conducted a day after U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and several other militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Awlaki was wanted in both countries for his suspected role in terrorist attacks and ties to the Yemen-based group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. President Barack Obama called his death a major blow to the terrorist group.

The operation also killed Samir Khan, the American editor of an al-Qaida magazine.

As Yemen battles militants, it is also dealing with political turmoil, as anti-government protesters increase their calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's resignation.

On Saturday, a Yemeni government spokesman said 1,480 people have been killed this year in clashes linked to anti-government unrest.

The announcement by Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi marked an unusual admission for Yemen, which rarely provides casualty estimates.

Janadi told reporters in Sana'a the death toll included security forces and civilians who died this year through mid-September.

For months, thousands of anti-government protesters have been taking to the streets with calls for the president's departure. Mr. Saleh's supporters have held counter-demonstrations.

Yemen welcomes White House's statement

SANA'A, Oct. 01 (Saba) - An official source in the presidency office welcomed Saturday the statement of the USA White House on the significance of the cooperation between Yemen and the USA.
Concerning what has been mentioned in the statement on the significance of starting transfer of power in Yemen immediately, the source said that was welcome in accordance with the Yemeni constitution, the Gulf-brokered initiative and its timeline executive mechanism.
"The one who kills Yemenis and resorts to violence against them is not the government. They are the outlaw elements who are allied with al-Qaeda," the source said.
The source concluded the statement with voicing his concern over the contents of some unstudied statements that encourage outlaws to perpetrate more sabotage and violence.

FBI, security officials warn of possible retaliation over al-Awlaki killing

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 1, 2011

Washington (CNN) -- U.S. officials are warning the killing of American-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, could spark retaliatory attacks, according to a bulletin obtained by CNN.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint bulletin late Friday that warned supporters might seek to portray al-Awlaki as a martyr in a supposed U.S. war against Islam.

It said the deaths "could provide motivation for homeland attacks" by "homegrown violent extremists," the type the two men allegedly tried to recruit or inspire.

A similar bulletin was issued following the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The latest bulletin came the same day officials said al-Awlaki -- an American whose fluency with English and technology made him a top terrorist recruiter -- was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Three others were killed in the attack including Samir Khan, an American, who produced the terrorist network's English-language online magazine, Inspire.

A U.S. official told CNN Saturday that there are indications that Ibrahim Hasan al-Asiri, a top bomb maker for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was at the scene of the attack but couldn't confirm whether he had been killed. U.S. officials believe Al-Asiri was behind the thwarted 2009 Christmas day "underwear" bomb as well as a failed October 2010 plot to put explosive devices on cargo planes headed to the United States.

Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Awlaki, left the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, Saturday for Jawf and Marib provinces to confirm that his son was dead, family members told CNN. Tribesmen in Marib province said Friday that they had seen the victims of the drone strike and that their bodies were charred beyond recognition.

Tribesmen said Saturday that the bodies were under their control and they would only be handed over to direct relatives.

"It's any family's right to bury their loved one, and we will ensure that that simple right is granted," said a tribal leader in the town of Khashef, where officials said the CIA drone attack occurred.

Meanwhile, the chief of the U.N. team responsible for monitoring al Qaeda activities said he was keeping an eye on the reaction to the killing in Yemen and what it could mean for the country.

Yemen has been wracked by political and social unrest as protesters call for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, a crisis that has allowed al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to gain a foothold in the southern part of the country. Saleh has resisted calls to step down, saying the country would fall into the hands of terrorists and militants if he relinquished control.

On Saturday, Yemen's state TV quoted a military source as saying forces were making progress in their fight against al Qaeda and have cleared large parts of Zinjibar, a port city in the southern province of Abyan.

In the Arhab district, north of Sanaa, eyewitnesses reported airstrikes and rocket propelled grenade attacks by government forces on residential villages. No casualties were immediately reported.

Al-Awlaki was under the protection of his family's large and powerful al-Awlaki tribe, which was once aligned to Saleh, Richard Barrett, the coordinator of the U.N. monitoring team, told CNN.

Barrett called al-Awlaki's killing a significant setback for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"I can't think of a single individual who could take his place," he said.

A U.S. administration official said the mission, codenamed Operation Troy, was similar to the one in May that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in that it was commanded by the CIA, with close coordination with Joint Special Operations Command.

The CIA and the command had al-Awlaki under surveillance for at least two weeks, but were awaiting an opportunity to kill him without causing civilian casualties or damage, the administration official said.

U.S. military helped target al-Awlaki and manned American military aircraft were flying overhead ready to offer assistance. The drone was operated by the CIA, officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the death is a "major blow" to al Qaeda, reeling still from the killing and capture this year of several top leaders, most notably bin Laden.

A Yemeni government official told CNN that the killing was the result of a "successful joint intelligence-sharing operation" between Yemen and the United States. The official asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the news media.

The United States regarded al-Awlaki as a terrorist who posed a threat to American homeland security. Western intelligence officials said they believe al-Awlaki was a senior leader of AQAP, one of the world's most active al Qaeda affiliates.

Al-Awlaki was killed near Khashef town, east of the capital, Sanaa, said Mohammed Basha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.

Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, he lived in the United States until the age of 7, when his family returned to Yemen. He returned to the United States in 1991 for college and remained until 2002.

During his stay in the U.S., he served as imam in California and Virginia, and interacted with three of the men who went on to become September 11, 2001, hijackers, according to the 9/11 Commission report. He publicly condemned the attack afterward.

U.S. officials say he recruited Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man known as the underwear bomber, who was charged with trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight as it landed in Detroit on December 25, 2009.

The militant cleric is also said to have exchanged emails with accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused of killing a dozen fellow soldiers in Texas.