Radical US-born cleric Awlaqi killed: Yemen defence ministry

Tribal sources say Awlaqi, who was on US wanted list, killed in air strike which hit two vehicles in Marib province.

SANAA: Radical US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has been killed with several other suspected al Qaeda operatives, the Yemeni defence ministry said on Friday.

The ministry did not elaborate on the circumstances of Awlaqi's death in a statement released to the media.

But tribal sources told AFP that Awlaqi, who was on a US wanted list, was killed in an air strike which hit two vehicles in Marib province, an al Qaeda stronghold in eastern Yemen, early on Friday.

One tribal source said that the airplane that carried out the strike was likely to be American, adding that US aircraft had been patrolling the skies over Marib for the past several days.

The Yemeni defence ministry had previously announced Awlaqi'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.

In February, the director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Michael Leiter, told US lawmakers that Awlaqi probably posed "the most significant risk" to the United States.