religion children ethnicity name parents residence article_title citizenship death_cause
sunni islam 5 arab anwar al-awlaki -rcb- -rcb- nasser al-awlaki -lrb- father -rrb- yemen anwar al-awlaki
 us and yemen -rcb- -rcb- hellfire missile
anwar al-awlaki

anwar al-awlaki -lrb- also spelled al-aulaqi , al-awlaqi ; `` anwar al - ` awlaqī '' ; april 21 , 1971 -- september 30 , 2011 -rrb- was an american and yemeni imam and islamic lecturer .
u.s. government officials allege that he was a senior recruiter and motivator who was involved in planning terrorist operations for the islamist militant group al-qaeda , and he became the first united states citizen to be targeted and killed in a united states drone strike .
-lrb- his son , abdulrahman al-awlaki , was killed by a u.s. drone strike two weeks later . -rrb-
with a blog , a facebook page , the al-qaeda magazine `` inspire '' , and many youtube videos , al-awlaki was described by saudi news station al arabiya as the `` bin laden of the internet . ''
after a request from the us congress , in november 2010 google removed many of al-awlaki 's videos from its websites .
al-awlaki 's teachings are still influencing islamists in the west and internationally , with his statements , articles , and lectures being cited and used as inspiration by islamic extremists .
he led something of a double life in the united states .
outwardly a conservative religious man , he also frequented prostitutes , and his numerous encounters were followed by the f.b.i. .
as imam at a mosque in falls church , virginia -lrb- 2001 -- 02 -rrb- , al-awlaki spoke with and preached to three of the 9/11 hijackers , who were al-qaeda members .
in 2001 , he presided at the funeral of the mother of nidal malik hasan , an army psychiatrist who later e-mailed him extensively in 2008 -- 09 before the fort hood shootings .
during al-awlaki 's later radical period after 2006 -- 07 , when he went into hiding , he was associated with umar farouk abdulmutallab , who attempted the 2009 christmas day bombing of an american airliner .
al-awlaki was allegedly involved in planning abdulmutallab 's attack .
the yemeni government tried him `` in absentia '' in november 2010 , for plotting to kill foreigners and being a member of al-qaeda .
a yemeni judge ordered that he be captured `` dead or alive . ''
some us officials said that in 2009 , al-awlaki was promoted to the rank of `` regional commander '' within al-qaeda .
others felt that nasir al-wuhayshi still held this rank and that al-awlaki was an influential member in the group .
he repeatedly called for `` jihad '' against the united states .
in april 2010 , us president barack obama placed al-awlaki on a list of people whom the us central intelligence agency were authorized to kill because of terrorist activities .
al-awlaki 's father and civil rights groups challenged the order in court .
al-awlaki was believed to be in hiding in southeast yemen in the last years of his life .
the us deployed unmanned aircraft -lrb- drones -rrb- in yemen to search for and kill him , firing at and failing to kill him at least once , before succeeding on september 30 , 2011 .
two weeks later , al-awlaki 's 16-year-old son , abdulrahman al-awlaki , a us citizen who was born in denver , was killed by a cia-led drone strike in yemen .
nasser al-awlaki , anwar 's father , released an audio recording condemning the killings of his son and grandson as senseless murders .
in june 2014 , a previously classified memorandum issued by the united states department of justice was released , justifying al-awlaki 's death as a lawful act of war .
