Sana: Yemeni forces are actively searching
for a US-born Muslim cleric who has reportedly been added to
the CIA`s list of targets to be killed and captured, the
foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Last week, Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said at a press
conference that Anwar al-Awlaki was "always seen as a preacher
rather than a terrorist" and that the radical cleric was not
being targeted.
But al-Qirbi clarified to The Associated Press today that
his government viewed al-Awlaki as a mere religious figure
before the Sept 11 terror attacks but now considered him a
wanted terrorist.
Al-Awlaki, a US citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni
parents, came to the attention of US officials after being
linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of
trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day,
as well as Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army psychiatrist
accused of killing 13 people in November at Fort Hood, Texas.
He has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims
around the world to kill US troops in Iraq.
Yemen has appeared to target al-Awlaki in the recent
past.
On Dec 24, Yemeni warplanes, using US intelligence help,
struck a meeting of senior al-Qaida figures that al-Awlaki was
believed to be attending, killing 30 militants, according to
the government.
PTI
