Yemeni jihadi claims Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khar killed in airstrike

A poster at the al Qaeda-linked al-Fida’ forum who claims to be a Yemeni jihadi stated that American jihadists Anwar al Awlaki and Samir Khan, the editor of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s Inspire magazine, were indeed killed. The posts below have been translated by the indispensable SITE Intelligence Group. “The American to which the jihadist referred may be Samir Khan,” SITE said in an email that announced the statements.

Keep in mind that these posts are not official confirmation. But since President Obama has publicly stated that Awlaki is dead, it appears that US officials are highly confident he is indeed dead. AQAP will very likely weigh in on this issue in the next several days, if not sooner.

The statements from the Yemeni jihadi, by the SITE Intelligence Group:

May Allah bless you my noble brothers. The news is true. We say, may Allah have mercy on our sheikh and our beloved, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed this morning in the area between al-Jawf and Marib in a Hilux 2005 vehicle, along with six people accompanying him.


We consider him as a martyr and we ask mercy for all the mercy who fell with him in this raid, which was carried out by a plane that monitored the movements of Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki for three days, according to what was told by local residents close to the incident.


Peace be upon you my dear brother. By Allah, I am from Yemen. Allah is witness that this news came upon us like a thunderbolt, but we consider him a martyr, because he was martyred along with another person, an American citizen of Pakistani origin who specialized in programming. The news was confirmed to me, and I apologize for the delay, because I was praying.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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10 Comments

  • gerald says:

    Awlaki and Samir Khan were both Terrorists and Traitors. Nice shooting Langley!!

  • DANNY says:

    I love this part “Allah is witness that this news came upon us like a thunderbolt,”
    No actually they are HELLFIRES, what your god doesn’t know everything when he gives you visions?

  • jayc says:

    “The news was confirmed to me, and I apologize for the delay, because I was praying.”
    Pray that you’re not next.

  • Muhammed says:

    This the SECOND TIME that the sheikh was KILLED!! So they killed him TWICE??!! Like they KILLED BIN LADEN THREE OR MORE TIMES

  • Muhammed says:

    The US never made their case against Sheikh Anwar,because they had no case!!!What the US did is COLD BLOODED MURDER!!! There is NO RULE OF LAW IN AMERICA!!!!!AMERICA will go the way of the Roman Empire….ALL EMPIRES FALL SOONER OR LATER

  • Ben says:

    Predator drones, used to kill terrorists with impunity, are legally not permitted to kill US-born terrorists. The US Constitution is very clear on this. The Constitution, however, implicitly encourages killing of non-Americans, terrorists or otherwise, guilty or innocent, men or women, young or old, without due process of law. God bless America. Americans are free to kill terrorists, even children and women. That is not a crime; because that is not just killing; that is war and children, women and innocent are not killed, they just collateral damage. Read more at: http://passivevoices.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/caution-it-is-not-legal-to-drone-us-born-terrorists%E2%80%A6/

  • Soccer says:

    Muhammed,
    Take your medication, please.
    Thank you.

  • inspire says:

    May his soul rest in peace. Indeed he has been martyred.
    Soon we shall see who was upon the truth and who the true terrorists are!

  • Kurt Spehr says:

    The enemies of the United States forget we have one weapon if dropped by accident on Northern Pakistan would make our smaller bombs use unecessary!!

  • Doug says:

    Is a person that denounces America a real citizen? Is a person that goes to foreign lands and plots and plans to destroy America a citizen? Just because Anwar Al-Awlaki was born in America, his actions should void that experience and rights!!

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