Yemen Post According to the al-Awlaki family back in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, Abdul rahman al-Awlaki, the cleric’s son would have run away from home after news of his father’s death in a desperate bid to find him. The 17 year-old was killed subsequently in an American air raid this Friday. Outraged, his family is now speaking out against what they call a murder.

The family’s statements to the WaPo is here. His family says he ran away from home and was having a picnic when the drone hit. However what he was doing with known terrorist Ibrahim al Banaa and Fahd al Quso’s brother is unknown and not raised in the article.

Related: I posted this below but it belongs in a drone-related post: Marib Press Tribes in Marib issued a statement saying Sheikh Saleh al Taaman was killed in the air rad with Ibrahim al Banaa but not reported killed by the regime. The Sheikh was connected to the state’s security policy and paid by Ghalib al Qamish (PSO) 100K YR/month; tribesmen accuse the regime of the manipulating the terror file and US CT ops to retain power. They say the Sheikh was not listed among the dead and that’s reason to ignore the regime’s fatality lists.

Safe copy at Jihadology has link to original post: al-Malāḥim Media presents new statement from al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula: “Blood of the Martyr, Light and Fire: Statement on the Martyrdom of Shaykh Anwar al-’Awlaqī and his Colleagues”

No mention of al Assiri per @Inteltweet but Sami confirmed dead as well.

“The blood of the sheik (al-Awlaki) and his brothers will not go in vain; there are heroes behind him who do not sleep under oppression, and they will retaliate soon,” the group said. “We and the Americans are at war: we get them and they get us, and the end is for those who are patient – they are the ones who will be victorious.” FOX

The full statement at Flashpoint here has a little different translation; also includes AQAP’s trashing the Yemeni opposition parties.

Radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was directly involved in the failed Christmas 2009 plot on a commercial jet and failed October 2010 plot on cargo planes, according to the federal bulletin issued after Awlaki was killed Friday in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen.

The Homeland Security/FBI bulletin, obtained by Fox News, specifically says Awlaki, an influential new-generation figure in Al Qeada, showed the suspected Christmas Day bomber how to detonate the bomb he is accused of hiding in his underwear.

Read more: Fox

Awlaqi moved freely in Yemen’s lawless regions, AFP

ADEN — Long sought-after US-born Al-Qaeda cleric, Anwar al-Awlaqi, who was killed in a US air strike last week, used to move freely around Yemen’s lawless provinces and even preach in mosques, witnesses said.

During the past few months, the radical cleric had moved between the Al-Qaeda hotbed regions of Abyan and Shabwa in the south and Marib in the east, one tribal chief told AFP on condition of anonymity….Awlaqi and AQAP number two, Saeed al-Shehri, escaped death on September 20, when US drones carried out several air strikes on the village of Al-Mahfad in Abyan, the tribal chief said.

The imam fled to Al-Jawf, a desert area further in the north, near the borders with Saudi Arabia, he added. Four Al-Qaeda militants were killed in that raid, a tribal source close to the jihadist network said.

Awlaqi used to “spend most of his time in Khor al-Awaleq,” a mountainous region in Shabwa province controlled by the cleric’s tribe, the tribal chief said. “He also went to the nearby towns of Azzan and Rawda.”

“I had attended three sermons by Awlaqi in mosques, two in Azzan and another one in Al-Rawda, during and after Ramadan,” the Muslim holy month of fasting that fell in August this year, said one Shabwa resident.

“Awlaqi used to call for jihad (holy war) and for fighting Americans,” he said, adding the cleric’s thoughts “impressed many youths.”

Another witness said he saw Awlaqi perform dawn prayers at a mosque in Loder, another Al-Qaeda stronghold in Abyan.

But the imam quickly fled after US drones were spotted flying overhead, the witness added.

Awlaqi was surrounded by tight security, according to another tribal chief, who told AFP he had met with the cleric in August upon the latter’s request.

The chief said said that partisans of the radical imam asked him to meet them in a certain area from which he was taken to “an arid mountainous region.”

“I saw dozens of armed men deployed on the hills surrounding the meeting area,” he said. The tribal chief said he refused Awlaqi’s request to allow Al-Qaeda militants to freely pass through the area held by his tribe, which had mostly opposed the militant group.

AQAP has taken advantage of the weakening of central authority by nearly nine months of deadly protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster its presence in several southern provinces as well as Marib.

Hundreds of militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group overran Zinjibar, Abyan’s capital, in May and the city and adjacent towns have since been the scene of bitter fighting with the army.

Early this year, a Yemeni court specialising in terrorism cases handed down a 10-year jail sentence in absentia to Awlaqi for taking part in an armed group and for incitement to kill foreigners.

However, the cleric’s whereabouts had remained unknown and he escaped a US drone strike in early May, days after US special forces carried out a raid in which they killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his hideout inside Pakistan.

Yemen Post: “As is happens, al-Qaeda in Yemen is now claiming that both al-Awlaki and al-Asiri are still alive and were in fact nowhere near the explosion.”

But there hasn’t been an actual press release, if we can call it that, from AQAP. Supposedly they promised a video of Anwar disputing reports of his death to Xinjua, but there’s been nothing beyond that a few days ago. ( Here’s the summary of the reports of Anwar alive from 11/1.) Maybe the YP has sources. Marib Press says the local population confirmed to the family that Anwar is alive but has nothing from AQAP itself.

The fact that his family was unable to identify Awlaki from among the body parts was unsurprising. His father has my sympathy for that task alone. YP: “Tribal leaders in Jawf told the family that Awlaqi was not killed in the attack. Tribes in the province say there is no proof that Awlaqi was amongst the killed and DNA tests on the remains of the five killed can prove that.”

At the same time, Yemeni muj are confirming on the forums that he is dead. And DOD would never let President Obama make the statement if there was a chance Awlaki was still alive; otherwise, undead terrorists are quite common in Yemen. Al Reimi was announced dead three times and al Quso twice, but none of these were USG statements.

Yemen Times: He explained that one of the dead is from the local A’lmarwan clan in Khashef of Al-Jawf called Salem Saleh Arfaj and the other one is Saleh Mohsen Al-Na’j of the Abida tribe in Mareb, 173 km northeast the capital Sana’a.

“The two people mentioned were easy to identify because we know them, but it was hard to identify the other two since they were not from our area,” he said.

He indicated that one of the killed persons of his area was a well-known Al-Qaeda member among the population.

He described the area where the strike was carried out as “a plain surrounded by five mountains in the desert.”

“The vehicle which was said to be Al-Awlaki’s car was totally torn up into pieces and another car belonging to one of the citizens whose brother was killed in this strike was smashed,” he said.

And while the local relatives of the dead person were picking up the human parts of the dead bodies, they found two national security cards – one for their kinsman and the other for the dead person of Mareb, according to the local source.

“They were really Yemen’s national security agents recruited by Amar Saleh [chief of Yemen’s intelligence service],” he said.

NYT

A senior American official made it clear on Saturday that Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure remained a goal of American policy, and that Yemen’s government was under no “significant illusion” that the United States had changed its position.

“Sustaining military to military cooperation is in our best interest,” the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We don’t want to undermine that cooperation.”

A Yemeni government spokesman, however, said Mr. Saleh deserved credit for helping the Americans.

“After this big victory in catching Awlaki, the White House calls on the president to leave power immediately?” Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi said to Reuters. “The Americans don’t even respect those who cooperate with them.”

The spokesman for Yemen’s opposition coalition, Mohammed Qahtan, rejected the idea that Mr. Awlaki’s killing cast the government in a favorable light. Instead, it shows “the regime’s failure and weakness to perform its duty to arrest and try Awlaki in accordance with the Constitution,” Mr. Qahtan said. “And it’s that that forced America to go after him using their own means.”

Update 2: AQAP contradictory, it sounds like they don’t know or havent confirmed themselves: Mareb Press The questioning in the killing of al-Awlaki is reinforced by a conflict of information from sources close al Qaeda, where some close to AQ stress he is not dead, while others assert the news of his death (is correct), while it did not issue any official statement from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula that confirms or denies the news of his death.

Original: Gah! Al Qaeda linked sources tell the BBC that Awlaki is alive and they will produce video to prove it. On one hand, the US said it had definite confirmation and Obama wouldn’t have announced it if there wasn’t. Also there was a witness on the ground, the homeowner. And there was confirmation on one of the forums. On the other hand, the remains were charred and in pieces and his father couldn’t identify him. There’s been so much duplicity from the Sanaa regime on the al Qaeda issue before. However I don’t recall AQAP denying a death that occurred, they are usually more reliable in announcing causalities than Sanaa, which has a habit of announcing kills that weren’t going back to 2004 and Nabi. Likely the BBC’s source is not actual AQAP? Until I see it a reliable Yemeni site that has a statement directly from AQAP, not reprinting the beeb story, then its likely untrue.

BBC, GT: Tribal sources linked to al Qaeda, told the BBC that al-Qaeda in Yemen, Egypt denied the news of killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki, a leading figure in the organization, and vowed to broadcast a video of an interview with Aulaqi prove that he is still alive

But sources close to the father of Anwar al-Awlaki who is a professor at the University of Sanaa, confirmed to the BBC that he went today to the al-Jawf province, eastern Yemen to identify the body of his son, and supervising the burial, if so, then his death.

According to tribal sources is entirely distorted and could not be identified but believed to be Anwar Awlaki.

Similar report at Barakish

Original: White House and many US officials confirming. I wonder if Samir Khan was with him? If its true, can the US withdraw support for the Sanaa regime now? Who else do we need before we can go to a normal posture toward the country?

Marib Press says witnesses confirm. And “Tribal sources said told AFP that Awlaki was killed early Friday in an air strike on two cars in the province of Marib, east of the country, a stronghold of Al Qaeda in Yemen.” Also News Yemen has independent tribal sources on the scene saying Anwar escaped wounded in the first strike and hit again by a second, the third strike took out the second car and there was another American (Samir). The tribe in the area does not support al Qaeda, and buried the bodies. They found four rifles but are unsure of the number of fatlities. al Masdar A local witness confirms a car was hit and no reports at all of any random civilians, another good thing. But the bodies are so burnt etc that its impossible to identify the remains.

Local (AQ?) sources in Shabwa tell al Watan Awlaki is dead and was turned in by the defected pro-rev general Ali Mohsen al Ahmar who historically is close to al Qaeda to prove to the US that he is strong on CT: al Watan. Obama confirms he’s dead. Awlaki. was seen prior to his death with seven companions.

Update No. Just no.: SANAA, Sep. 30 (Xinhua) –The most-wanted U.S.-born Yemeni al- Qaida cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is alive and was not in the targeted convoy hit by a unmanned U.S. drone Friday, one of his brothers told Xinhua by phone. Also Nass Mobile in Yemen just said that Awlaqi was injured but not killed.

Update 2: Report of a report by Yemeni defense ministry Samir Khan was also killed.

Update 3: US reports they were working on a poison gas attack, there were the earlier reports of the poison perfume plot on Saudis and the accumulation of castor beans.

the National: A tribal leader who requested anonymity gave an account of the strike based on information from Khamis Arfaaj, the owner of the house in which Al Awlaki was staying. Mr Khamis, who gave a higher death toll than official sources, said Al Awlaki and six others took their breakfast and moved about 600 metres away from the house.

Once they had their food ready, they noticed aircraft overhead. They moved to their car but a missile hit it. It killed Al Alwaki, Salem bin Arfaaj, Mohammed al Naaj and Khan. Mr Khamis said two others thought to be from the Gulf and a seventh person who remains unknown were also killed. He said the bodies were collected into four sacks and buried in the village of Al Khasf.

He said Al Awlaki was in transit to neighbouring Marib province.

Residents of the area said at least seven US drones were seen patrolling the skies during the last three weeks

AJE: Yemen’s defence ministry has reported that Anwar al-Awlaki, a well-known and controversial cleric with ties to al-Qaeda, was killed along with four companions.

A government statement released to the media on Friday said the dual US-Yemeni citizen was hunted down by Yemeni forces, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of his death. Awlaki was wanted by both the US and Yemen.

“The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions,” said the statement sent by text message to journalists.

Tribal sources told the AFP news agency that Awlaki was killed early on Friday in an air strike that hit two vehicles in Marib province, an al-Qaeda stronghold in central Yemen.

But government officials say he was targeted 8km from the town of Khashef in the province of al-Jawf, just 140km from Sanaa.

Previous claim

The airplane that carried out the strike was likely to be American, according to tribal sources, who added that US aircraft had been patrolling the skies over Marib for the past several days.

Tribal sources also said Awlaki had relocated from the Shabwa region around three weeks ago.

A US drone aircraft targeted but missed Alwaki in May, and the Yemeni defence ministry had previously announced Awlaki’s death late last year.

On December 24, the Yemeni government said he had been killed in an air strike only to admit later that he was still alive.

“He has been a target of US drones at least three times,”Hakim al-Masmari, editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Post, told Al Jazeera.

“The Yemeni government will face a lot of criticism, especially in the south, for allowing US drones to attack Yemeni civilians. But it will not be a blow to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from any perspective. We don’t feel they will suffer, because [Awlaki] did not have any real role in [AQAP].”

The Atlantic: In the late 1990s, Awlaki was approached by an al-Qaeda facilitator known as Ziyad Khaleel, who performed simple tasks for the terror network, for example paying for a satellite phone to be used by Osama bin Laden. Khaleel and Awlaki were both connected to a Yemeni charity, founded by an associate of bin Laden. Awlaki served as its vice president for a time.

Awlaki also had repeated contacts with an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian sheikh whose whose fiery anti-American sermons inspired the terrorist cell responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In January 2000, an Egyptian member of Rahman’s Islamic Group visited Awlaki’s mosque, where he met with the young preacher.

All of this activity led the FBI to open an investigation in to Awlaki in June 1999, the details of which remain classified. What we do know is that the investigation was closed in March of 2000 — mere days after Awlaki and his followers had met Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, two of the five al-Qaeda operatives who would crash American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11.

The hijackers’ road to San Diego, and to Awlaki, had begun over lunch. Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi man involved with the leadership of a Kurdish mosque near San Diego, was rumored to work for the Saudi government, perhaps keeping an eye on students and visitors from the homeland.

Bayoumi enjoyed talking about religion; Awlaki was one of his discussion partners. In January 2000, Bayoumi invited an American convert he had befriended, Cayson bin Don, to join him on a trip to L.A.

Bayoumi said he had a series of minor errands to perform there, the details of which seemed to shift with each telling. At least one person later told the FBI that Bayoumi had said he was going to Los Angeles to pick up some visitors.

The men dropped by the Saudi consulate and the King Fahd Mosque, both in Los Angeles. Bayoumi knew people at each location. After the busy work was finished, they went to a halal restaurant called the Mediterranean Café, where they sat at a table and ordered food.

While they were waiting, Hazmi and Mihdhar walked into the restaurant. The two men had arrived in town just days earlier.

According to bin Don, Bayoumi was very friendly, immediately inviting the men to join them. Bayoumi spoke with the men in Arabic, which bin Don did not understand. The conversation ended with Bayoumi giving his phone numbers to Hazmi and Mihdhar and telling them they should come to San Diego…

In late summer of 2000, Awlaki stepped down from his position at Ribat to travel overseas. By now, word was beginning to spread about Awlaki’s oratorical skills. He was a hot commodity in certain circles of religiously observant American Muslim — fluent in English, with a flair for captivating young audiences. Recordings of his lectures on CD became brisk sellers.