Anwar al Awlaki

Multiple U.S. sources have confirmed that American born Anwar al-Awlaki is dead,He was killed in a drone attack in Yemen that comes just months after the death of Osama bin Laden.

Awlaki was in top of hit list  of the U.S. terrorist list. As a charismatic speaker fluent in English, Awlaki was a leading propagandist and recruiter. His fiery sermons resonated with radicals in the U.S. and Britain, and his group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is actively recruiting Westerners with an online magazine called Inspire, with the latest edition coming out this week.

Awlaki was born April 22, 1971 in USA to Yemeni parents. In his childhood his family moved back to Yemen, where he father served as a professor at Sanaa University and as the agriculture minister.

In 1991, Awlaki returned to the U.S. for study civil engineering at Colorado State University. He also studied education at San Diego State University, and did doctoral work at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He later became a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Awlaki was interviewed many times about his ties with three of the hijackers, he knew at least two hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi was present in San Diego mosque in 2000. The Sept. 11 Commission report said Awlaki was also investigated by the FBI in 1999 and 2000. according to investigation report none of the investigations led to criminal charges against him.

In 2002 he left USA and returned to Yemen. He was arrested by Yemeni authorities in 2006 as part of a group suspected of kidnapping a Shiite Muslim teenager for ransom. After spending one year in prison without trial, Awlaki was released following the intercession of his tribe.

After his release from prison, Awlaki moved to the Awalik tribal heartland in eastern province of Shabwa, an al Qaeda stronghold, and occasionally preaching in a local mosque.

In the past two years Awlaki had become increasingly influential at the core of the al Qaeda franchise in Yemen.

He was also attached directly to two terror attacks on the U.S. in 2009. Email exchanges between Awlaki and accused Fort Hood shooter gunman Nidal Hasan confirm that the al Qaeda leader was the inspiration for the massacre at a Texas army base that left 13 people dead.

In a May 2010 video Awlaki praised Hasan, and called the Ft. Hood shooting "an heroic and wonderful act." He also asked for the killing of American civilians.