Top al-Qaida leader killed in air strike
Web Producer: Sean Olsta
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials confirm that a top al-Qaida leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, has been killed in a U.S. attack in Yemen.
They say the same military unit that got Osama bin Laden used a drone and jet strike today to kill the American-born cleric.
One U.S. official says al-Awlaki had been under observation for three weeks while the military waited for the right opportunity to strike.
Officials say he was killed in a strike on his convoy carried out by a joint operation of the CIA and the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.
They say the CIA provided the intelligence and the military provided the firepower.
Al-Awlaki is the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since bin Laden in May. He was a U.S. citizen, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents.
Civil liberties groups have questioned the government's authority to kill an American without trial.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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