This is fantastic news! Both of these guys have been high on the most wanted list for awhile, and they were crucial to the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda. They are also American born, which makes their deaths even better. Nothing makes me happier than to see traitors of this country get their just deserve in the form of a hellfire missile. Death to Al Qaeda!!! –Matt
Edit: 10/01/2011- It sounds like there was a third AQ individual killed in this strike, and he is a top target as well. His name is Ibrahim al-Asiri, and he is a top bomb maker responsible for the manufacture of the underwear bomb and the printer bomb used in operations. Outstanding.
Edit: 10/02/2011- On the other hand, it sounds like al-Asiri was not killed. lol
Anwar al-Aulaqi and Samir Khan.
Anwar al-Aulaqi, U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda, reported killed in Yemen
By Sudarsan Raghavan
September 30, 2011
Anwar al-Aulaqi, a radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric and one of the most influential al-Qaeda leaders wanted by the United States, was killed Friday in a U.S. drone strike in northern Yemen, Yemeni and American authorities said, eliminating a prominent terrorist recruiter who inspired attacks on U.S. soil.
The strike also killed a second U.S. citizen — Samir Khan, the co-editor of an al-Qaeda magazine — and two other unidentified al-Qaeda operatives, the Yemeni government said. But tribal leaders in the area said at least seven people were killed. They identified one of the others as al-Qaeda militant named Salem bin Arfaaj.
In Washington, senior Obama administration officials confirmed that Aulaqi, 40, a dual national of the United States and Yemen, and Khan were killed in a drone strike on their convoy.
President Obama called Aulaqi’s death “a major blow to al-Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate” and described him as “the leader of external operations for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” a group known as AQAP.
“In that role, he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans,” Obama said at a ceremony honoring the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at Fort Myer, Va.
Khan, a member of AQAP, co-edited the group’s slick English-language Internet magazine, Inspire, which was intended to recruit Westerners to al-Qaeda’s fold. Aulaqi was also believed to have played a role in creating the online-only magazine, whose first issue in July 2010 included an article titled “Making a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.” Khan, a Saudi-born U.S. citizen raised in Queens, N.Y., and Charlotte, traveled to Yemen to join AQAP and likely operated under Aulaqi’s direction, terrorism experts have said.
Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemeni government spokesman, said in an e-mail that Yemeni intelligence had pinpointed Aulaqi’s hideout and monitored his movements before the airstrike.