Description

In December 2009 the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT launched an air attack from the small Yemeni town of al-Majalah where al-Qaida militants were thought to be in hiding. The prominent religious leader Anwar Awlaki was later targeted by a second attack a week. He escaped unscathed but several villagers were murdered. Both of these hits were meant to set-back al-Qaida's operations in Yemen but, within twenty four hours, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - a 23-year-old Nigerian male and among Awlaki's fans - boarded a plane to Detroit with explosives concealed in his clothing.