U.S.-Born Top Al Qaeda Leader Killed In Yemen

Yemeni security officials told the AP that al-Awlaki, 40, was killed in an airstrike, which took place Friday morning in the country’s east.

Al-Arabiya television network cited local tribal sources as saying suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a convoy of vehicles believed to be carrying al-Awlaki and his guards.

The U.S. government has called al-Awlaki a “key leader” of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen. The U.S. has linked al-Awlaki to Nidal Malik Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people in a shooting at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, and to a Nigerian student known as the “underwear bomber,” who tried to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009.

U.S. officials considered al-Awlaki a most-wanted terror suspect, and added his name last year to the “kill or capture” list  -- making him a rare American addition to what is effectively a U.S. government hit-list.

Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico in 1971, and spent several years living and working in the United States. He left the United States in 2002.

Al-Awlaki's father, who still lives in the U.S., filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming his son's civil rights were violated by the U.S. call for his killing.