Terrorist, Al Qaeda | featured news

A guilty plea by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab took a federal court in Detroit by surprise as he admitted he tried to blow up an airliner with a bomb in his underwear for Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda's Yemeni offshoot confirmed the killing of U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki late last month.

Most Americans applauded the Sept. 30 strike that killed U.S.-born al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, but some analysts continue to question the legal reasoning behind an attack on someone who, after all, was an American citizen. There are also questions about the special, secret panel that authorizes kill operations against any terrorist.

The administration has put the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq on a terrorism blacklist and is offering a $10 million reward for information.

U.S. officials are warning the killing of American-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, could spark retaliatory attacks, according to a bulletin obtained by CNN.

President Obama credited American intelligence operations and cooperation with the Yemeni government for the death of key Al Qaeda figure Anwar Awlaki on Friday, calling it a "major blow" to the terrorism network's most active operational affiliate and a sign of things to come.

Military officials in Pakistan announced the arrest of three men on Monday they said were senior Al Qaeda operatives who had been planning attacks on Western targets.

The number two leader of al Qaeda, Atiyah abd al-Rahman, was killed on August 22 in Pakistan, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who arrived in Kabul on Saturday, also said the American focus had narrowed to capturing or killing key leaders of the terrorist group in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Osama bin Laden's longtime deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, a fiery ideologue who is known for his deep hatred of the West and helped plan the 9/11 attacks, has taken control of al-Qaida after the death last month of the terror network's founder, the group said Thursday.