Washington .- The U.S. attack last Thursday with an unmanned aircraft against elements of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a subsidiary of Al Qaeda in the region, was aimed at the organization's leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, who left unharmed. In the attack, which took place in the remote region of Shabwa Yemen, killing two mid-level leaders, the brothers Abdullah and Mubarak Musaid.
In the first bombing, the U.S. launched three missiles at a truck carrying Al Awlaki and a citizen of Saudi nationality, without achieving its objective. After this first attempt, Mubarak's brothers came to the scene and changed their vehicle with the truck, so that Al Awlaki was not in the truck during the second attack, which claimed the lives of Musaid and Abdullah, as saying The Wall Street Journal.
"We wanted it to be him," stated a U.S. source told CBS News. "The Yemeni government provided U.S. officials vital details on the activities of Al Awlaki in Shabwa few days before," said a security official of the Asian country. In addition, the same source added that Yemeni authorities knew about the attack before it occurred.
It is estimated that AQAP has about 300 fighters in the remote mountainous regions of the country, in regions of Shabwa, Abyan, Jouf and Marib. Also, it is believed that this branch of Al Qaeda is behind many attacks against Yemeni government targets. In addition, considering the possibility that AQAP has served as inspiration for attacks on U.S.
soil - including the shooting at Fort Hood in which a U.S. Army psychiatrist killed thirteen people and wounded 32 others - and placement of explosives on a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. AQAP Washington considers terrorist cell is more active in the world.
After the death of the leader of Al Qaeda, Usama bin Laden, some U.S. government sources now believe the group led by al Awlaki as the gravest danger to the United States and other Western countries. 
In the first bombing, the U.S. launched three missiles at a truck carrying Al Awlaki and a citizen of Saudi nationality, without achieving its objective. After this first attempt, Mubarak's brothers came to the scene and changed their vehicle with the truck, so that Al Awlaki was not in the truck during the second attack, which claimed the lives of Musaid and Abdullah, as saying The Wall Street Journal.
"We wanted it to be him," stated a U.S. source told CBS News. "The Yemeni government provided U.S. officials vital details on the activities of Al Awlaki in Shabwa few days before," said a security official of the Asian country. In addition, the same source added that Yemeni authorities knew about the attack before it occurred.
It is estimated that AQAP has about 300 fighters in the remote mountainous regions of the country, in regions of Shabwa, Abyan, Jouf and Marib. Also, it is believed that this branch of Al Qaeda is behind many attacks against Yemeni government targets. In addition, considering the possibility that AQAP has served as inspiration for attacks on U.S.
soil - including the shooting at Fort Hood in which a U.S. Army psychiatrist killed thirteen people and wounded 32 others - and placement of explosives on a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. AQAP Washington considers terrorist cell is more active in the world.
After the death of the leader of Al Qaeda, Usama bin Laden, some U.S. government sources now believe the group led by al Awlaki as the gravest danger to the United States and other Western countries.
- "Drone strike in Yemen was aimed at Awlaki" and related posts (07/05/2011)
- Al-Awlaki targeted in Yemen (06/05/2011)
- Al-Qaida cleric Awlaki escapes US drone attack in south Yemen: official - Xinhua (07/05/2011)
- Why Yemen claims role in US drone strike on cleric Anwar al-Awlaki - Christian Science Monitor (07/05/2011)
- Al-Awlaki targeted in Yemen (06/05/2011)
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