Awlaki, the US cleric who has been linked to the attack on Fort Hood in Texas and the failed Christmas Day airline bomb plot, has been seen in the southern Yemeni region of Shabwa, according to Fareed Abu Bakr Al-Awlaki, the head sheikh of the Al-Awlaki tribe. The sheikh said that Al-Awlaki, who is wanted by the US authorities for connections with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was seen three days ago with five companions traveling through mountains in the region. “We can capture him and hand him in, but that is something for the security authorities,” Sheikh Al-Awlaki told Okaz by telephone from Yemen. The sheikh, who is a leading figure for over 400,000 tribesmen, made the comments one day after the US administration approved the “capture or killing” of Al-Awlaki. Of the US announcement, the sheikh said: “We are not the authority. We are Yemeni citizens and are not in a position to talk about issues like that, although we in the tribe can say that we are completely against Al-Qaeda and its plans.” Washington's attention on Al-Awlaki increased following the discovery that three persons involved in the September 11 World Trade Center attacks had spent time with him in the US. Some experts on extremist groups describe Al-Awlaki as being highly respected by Al-Qaeda members in Yemen and as “posing a danger greater than that of Bin Laden”, citing his abilities to recruit new members. Sources have said that increased measures against Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and their lack of communication with the organization's members make Al-Awlaki a potential successor to Bin Laden. Born in New Mexico in 1970 to Yemeni parents, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation once described Anwar Al-Awlaki as an “Al-Qaeda inspirer”, and some observers have labeled him the “Young Bin Laden”. His father, Nasser Al-Awlaki, is a professor at Sana'a University, while one of his brothers is employed at the Yemeni embassy in Morocco. Al-Awlaki survived an airstrike against Al-Qaeda leaders during a meeting at his house in Shabwa last December.
