US President Barack Obama has declared the killing of a fiery American-born cleric a “major blow” to al-Qaida’s most active affiliate and vowed a vigorous US campaign to prevent the terror network and its partners from finding a haven anywhere in the world.

An American-born cleric killed in Yemen played a “significant operational role” in plotting and inspiring attacks on the US, officials said, as they disclosed detailed intelligence to justify the killing of a US citizen.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Islamic militant cleric who became a prominent figure in al-Qaida’s most active branch, has been killed in the mountains of Yemen.

A JURY convicted a former British Airways computer specialist of plotting with US-born extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to blow up an airplane.

A former British Airways computer expert was convicted today of conspiring with a wanted terrorist to blow up a plane.

HUNDREDS of videos inciting violence, including some linked to the suspected al-Qaida mastermind of the cargo plane terror plot, were removed from YouTube yesterday.

The terrorists behind the airline ink bomb plot could not have known exactly where their packages were when they were set to explode, even after a suspected test run, US security sources said today.

A student in Britain who tried to murder a Labour MP after being inspired by a radical al Qaida cleric linked to the air cargo bomb plot is due to be sentenced today.

A US-born al-Qaida-linked cleric has been charged in his absence with plotting to kill foreigners, prosecutors in Yemen said today.

YEMEN will refuse to hand over a US-born, al-Qaida-linked cleric to the United States if he is captured because its law bans extradition of citizens, an official said yesterday.

The man accused of attempting to blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day was recruited by al-Qaida in London, a senior minister in Yemen’s government claimed today.

NEARLY a year before Major Nidal Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, terrorism investigators conducted an “assessment” of him before deciding he did not pose a threat.

The FBI knew that the US officer who massacred 13 people at the Fort Hood base had repeated contact with a radical imam overseas.