Anwar al-Awlaki

Anwar al-Awlaki (born 22nd April, 1971, died 30th September, 2011) was a radical American born and Yemeni Muslim cleric who according to U.S government officials became a senior talent recruiter and leading figure for Al- Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen. Awlaki had been perhaps the most prominent English-speaking advocate of violent jihad against the United States, with his message carried extensively over the Internet. His online lectures and sermons had been linked to more than a dozen terrorist investigations in the United States, Britain and Canada. Awlaki had been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Nidal Malik Hasan an army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas November 2009 and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit bound airliner on December 25th 2009.