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.
