U.S. Drone Attack Kills Al-Qaida Leader

The CIA launched a drone attack Friday in northern Yemen that killed Anwal al-Awlaki, one of the most influential remaining leaders of al-Qaida wanted by the United States, authorities said.

Al-Awlaki, 40, was a U.S.-born Muslim cleric and “the leader of external operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,” or AQAP, President Obama said in his announcement of Awlaki’s death.

The drone attack is said to have killed at least six other people, including Samir Kahn, also a U.S. citizen and the co-editor of an al-Qaida magazine, and Salem bin Arfaaj, an al-Qaida militant. –BF

The Washington Post:

In Washington, senior Obama administration officials confirmed that Aulaqi, 40, a dual national of the United States and Yemen, and Khan were killed in a drone strike on their convoy.

The strike was carried out by a CIA drone operating from a new agency base on the Arabian Peninsula, U.S. officials said. It marks the first time that the CIA has launched a drone strike in Yemen since 2002, and the first indication that the new base is operational. The Post is withholding details on the specific location of the base at the request of the Obama administration.

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