‘Awlaqi death major blow to Al-Qaeda’

President Barack Obama said yesterday the killing of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi was “major blow” to Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni franchise and vowed to be relentless in destroying global terror networks.

“The death of Awlaqi is a major blow to Al-Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate. (It) marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” Mr Obama said. Mr Obama added Awlaqi was the leader of external operations of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and had taken the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans.

He said Awlaqi’s killing in an air raid in Yemen was a tribute to the US intelligence community and to Yemen’s cooperation with the United States in a common anti-terror campaign.

He also warned that though “weakened”, AQAP was still “dangerous”.“Going forward, we will remain vigilant against any threats to the United States or our allies and partners.

“But make no mistake, this is further proof that Al-Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world.

“Working with Yemen and our other allies and partners, we will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans.”

US-born Al-Qaeda cleric Awlaqi is the latest US enemy wiped out by a furtive yet relentless and deadly assault on terror suspects on foreign soil stepped up by Mr Obama.

The covert warfare, using military and CIA assets, drone strikes and other means has decimated Al-Qaeda's senior leadership and seriously degraded its capacity to mount operations against the United States, top US officials say.

But the strategy, sometimes unilateral, often in fractured nations where extremists seek to exploit lawless conditions to hide, also raises pressing new ethical, diplomatic and legal headaches for US national security planners.

A string of US drone strikes in Pakistan has for instance further antagonised always testy US ties with Islamabad, amid a new row over alleged links between Inter Services Intelligence and the Haqqani network

The relationship had already been rattled by the centerpiece of aggressive US strategy -the US special forces raid which killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his hideout inside Pakistan in May.