Closed captioning of: Did airstrike hit imam tied to Fort Hood shootings?
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as the year winds down, the
u.s. war
against terrorism appears to be widening with some significant developments today in
yemen
. an
air strike
may have killed an extremist cleric linked to the gunman accused of carrying out the deadly rampage in ft. hood.
lisa myers
has the latest.
>>
reporter: it is the second
air strike
against alleged terrorist targets in
yemen
in the last week. the yemeni government says at least 30 suspected militants were killed, perhaps including extremist
yemeni american
cleric anwar al awlaki, linked to the major hassan charged with killing 14 soldiers in ft. hood last month.
>>
both yemeni and u.s. sources are saying that al awlaki was at a meeting with senior
al qaeda
leaders. what is not clear as of now is whether he survived the attack or he escaped.
>>
reporter: u.s. officials tell nbc news that the meeting was the primary target, but that awlaki was expected to be there sources say the administration checked with the
justice department
before the attack because of possible harm to a
u.s. citizen
. in a recent interview, awlaki, who served as spiritual leader to three of the 9/11 hijackers taunted
u.s. intelligence
, saying he had been talking to major hassan for almost a year before the ft. hood massacre.
>>
he said he contacted him not just to ask about killing
u.s. soldiers
, but also killing jewish civilians.
>>
reporter: among those believed killed today, an
al qaeda
leader who vowed against the u.s. u.s. officials acknowledge significant u.s. involvement in both attacks. sources say in addition to sharing intelligence, the u.s. fired
cruise missiles
and launched aircraft to go after last week's targets.
>>
this demonstrates the degree of concern the obama administration has about
yemen
and its commitment not to allow
yemen
to become a
safe haven
for
al qaeda
.
>>
reporter: an escalation on the
war on terrorism
, and possibly the final word against a persistent adversary.
lisa myers
, nbc news, washington.
>>>
the commander of
u.s. forces
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