Yemeni FM says authorities searching for radical US-born cleric

Yemen searching for radical US-born cleric

SAN’A, Yemen — Yemeni forces are actively searching for a U.S.-born Muslim cleric who has reportedly been added to the CIA’s list of targets to be killed and captured, the foreign minister said 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 on Wednesday 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 U.S. citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, came to the attention of U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Yemen has appeared to target al-Awlaki in the recent past.

On Dec. 24, Yemeni warplanes, using U.S. 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. But the cleric and other top al-Qaida leaders in the country are believed to have escaped.

In January, two prominent sheiks from the cleric’s powerful Awalik tribe told the AP that the Yemeni government was negotiating with tribal leaders to try to persuade them to hand over al-Awlaki to authorities.

Under U.S. pressure and with the help of American aid, training and intelligence, Yemen’s government has battled the al-Qaida militants who have established a base of operations in the country in the past year.

But the weak government’s control barely extends beyond the capital, and militants have found shelter among powerful and sympathetic tribes who are hostile to the government.

The cleric’s family and many members of his powerful Awalik tribe deny the 38-year-old is a member of al-Qaida, depicting him as a victim of Yemeni and U.S. persecution.