U.S. officials allege that Al-Awlaki spoke with and preached to a number of al-Qaeda members and affiliates, including three of the 9/11 hijackers,[17] alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan,[18][19] and alleged "Christmas Day bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab;[20][21][22] he was also allegedly involved in planning the latter's attack. The Yemeni government began trying him in absentia in November 2010, for plotting to kill foreigners and being a member of al-Qaeda, and a Yemenite judge ordered that he be captured "dead or alive".[23][24]
According to U.S. officials, al-Awlaki was promoted to the rank of "regional commander" within al-Qaeda in 2009.[25][26] He repeatedly called for jihad against the United States.[27][28] In April 2010, American President Obama approved Al-Awlaki's targeted killing,[29][30][31] an action unprecedented for an American citizen and an action unsuccessfully challenged by al-Awlaki's father and civil rights groups.[32][29][30][31]
Al-Awlaki was believed to be in hiding in Southeast Yemen in the last years of his life.[23] The U.S. deployed unmanned aircraft in Yemen to search for and kill him,[33] firing at and failing to kill him at least once,[34] before he was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011.[35] Two weeks later Al-Awlaki's 16 year old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who was born in Denver, was also killed by an American drone strike in Yemen.[36][37][38] Nasser al-Awlaki, the father of Anwar and grandfather of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, recorded an audio to condemn the killings of his son and grandson.[39]
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