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.
COMMENTS (24)
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@ haider: people holding an opinion like you are driven by a perception through which you intend to justify and legitimize every atrocity that are committed by the superpowers of the world who kill people in the name of gaining material needs and requirements and if a person having a little cause and objective in his life tries to do the very same thing, he is bombarded with all kind of abuses one can think of. what a sheer contradiction of what we say and what we do....
@AAhmed, Who has killed civilians more than America? But perhaps you tend to condone all the killings that take place in the name of war on terror? When you terrorize somebody to death, you must not expect roses in return. Please stop bloating the version that NyTimes, BBC, CNN, feed you.
@Usama: Did not kill civilians.
I see many people celebrate the loss of Awlaqi but the point is they are driven by a deeply-entrenched and well-grounded ideology.It may be a good riddance but certainly not an end. This battle of ideologies will continue till doomsday. Considering the yardstick that people use here to call him a terrorist is just senseless because by the same definition Che Guvera should also be remembered as a terrorist, not revolutionary.
What worse is that some people are defending this man?
@islooboy "where is freedom of speech". May be you should check at your that place where the sun don't shine. Lot of loud speech coming from there.
he was american cleric he didnt attack anyone where is freedom of speech
@jibran: If their ultimate wish is to die for their cause, then you should be happy for them - they got just what they wanted! Now if they would put on uniforms and fight like men rather than targeting unsuspecting civilians while hiding like little school girls, we could make more wishes come true!
The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.
To Jibran:
Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.
Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.
No person hath drunk a better draught than that of anger which he hath swallowed for God's sake.
Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them.
The greatest crimes are to associate another with God, to vex your father and mother, to murder your own species, to commit suicide, and to swear to lie.
keep killing. until you are tired. And they are not finished. Then think about the reason why these educated intellectuals turn to this mode of resistance. You are fond of living for your cause. Their ultimate wish is to die for theirs. Lets see who can sacrifice more. You have weapons and technology. They have faith. Lets see who wins.
@Furqan: brother I understand what you are trying to say & its good to see that you didn't blindly believed something without verifying it your self and this is what Allah(swt) directed muslims to do. Before accusing anyone on the basis of any information ,muslims should check it up themselves before passing the accusation on that person. If the accusations are true then its not a problem but if its not true & and we still accused that person blindly then we have commited a sin out of our ignorance & we will be accountable to Allah(swt) for that in the day of judgement.May Allah(swt) protect us all from commiting sins out of ignorance (ameen).
@Furqan: He was arrested and released in Yemen, not the US. This guy was an admitted Al Quada terrorist who advocated killing innocent people. Yes, please go on Youtube as I did today and watch the video in which he says that a million American WOMEN AND CHILDREN deserve to be murdered. He was a hypocritical pervert who was twice arrested in the US in the 1990's for soliciting prostitutes. He taught at respected institutions in the pre-9/11 world, a time when the cancer of Islamist extremism was ignored. No longer.
along with this guy,his right hand man, Samir khan was also bombed. This samir khan guy is a paki. Why dont your paki newspapers report that??? Its being reported in all leading world newspaper. Why hide that a paki was also killed in that same drone attack???
Thank God it was not in Pakistan.
@Furqan: Good riddance anyway
Muslim scholar of Yemeni heritage born in New Mexico. He served as an Imam in California, and later in the Washington, D.C. area where he headed the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and was also the Muslim Chaplain at George Washington University--Talk about links with terrorists!
Let us know when they kill a radical neo-con
I guess all the people are commenting on just reading about him on new websites. Well just to let u know he was a renowned Islamic scholar which was given a label or terrorist by the US and linked to alqaeda by them.heres a brief profile which the western media will never publish "Anwar al-Awlaki is a Muslim scholar of Yemeni heritage born in New Mexico. He served as an Imam in California, and later in the Washington, D.C. area where he headed the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and was also the Muslim Chaplain at George Washington University. In 2004 he returned to his native Yemen where he taught at Eman university until his arrest in mid 2006. Imam Anwar was released from custody on the 12th of December 2007 having spent a year and a half behind bars." Now tell me why none of the media has mentioned that he was released by US????O yeh and also gave a interview on the inside of Guantanamo prison, wat they are treated like.Further more please search his videos on youtube to see what he taught.
Fantastic job, JSOC - keep up the good work!!
And good riddance, Awl..hope the rest of your type follow you fast!
Sincere condolences to the many heart broken terrorist sympathizers today.
He was US citizen, if Haqqani and Omar were wondering.
Abbottabad rerun - another high level bad guy bites the dust.
I am sure Pakistanis will be mourning his loss.
Good riddance.