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Radical U.S. imam was once arrested in Yemen

Posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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The Associated Press

SAN'A, Yemen — A radical American imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect and called him a hero was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings.

Yemeni authorities are now hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he has al Qaeda ties.

Al-Awlaki, who has used his Web site to encourage Muslims worldwide to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, disappeared in Yemen eight months ago, according to his father. Yemeni security officials say they believe that he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants.

After his arrest in 2006, investigators could not prove any links to al Qaeda, and he was released in late 2007, according to two Yemeni counterterrorism officials and an Interior Ministry official. They spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The accused Fort Hood gunman communicated with al-Awlaki in e-mail exchanges 10 to 20 times over several months last year, officials say.

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