With a deadly drone strike Friday, the United States killed a radical cleric in Yemen that it considered the inspiration for a series of attacks on or plots against Americans.
President Barack Obama declared the killing of American-born Anwar al-Awlaki a "major blow" to al-Qaida's most dangerous affiliate, and vowed a vigorous U.S. campaign to prevent the terror network from finding a haven anywhere in the world.
Al-Awlaki, and a second American, Samir Khan, were killed by a joint CIA-U.S. military missile strike on their convoy in Yemen early Friday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said.
Here's are some of plots in which al-Awlaki was thought by the U.S. to have played a role, either directly or through his propaganda:
Naser Jason Abdo
Abdo, an Army private gone AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., was charged on July 28, 2011, with plotting to set off bombs outside Fort Hood, Texas. Agents said they found he had a copy of an article entitled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom," which appeared in Inspire, al-Qaida's English-language magazine.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame
Warsame, a Somali national, was indicted on June 30, 2011, in New York on charges of providing material support to al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP. He is also alleged to have fought on behalf of al-Shabaab in Somalia in 2009 and to have met with al-Awlaki while in Yemen.
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif
Abdul-Latif, aka Joseph Anthony Davis, a U.S. citizen and resident of Seattle, was charged on June 22, 2011, in a plot to attack a Seattle military processing center with machine guns and grenades. Federal agents said he was a follower of al-Awlaki.
Antonio Martinez
The U.S. citizen and resident of Baltimore was arrested Dec. 8, 2010. He was charged in a sting operation with plotting to set off what he thought was a vanload full of explosives at a military recruiting center in Maryland. Agents said he referred to al-Awlaki as his "beloved sheikh" in recordings with an undercover FBI source and posted comments on his Facebook page praising al-Awlaki.
Farooque Ahmed
A naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan and resident of Ashburn, Va., he was arrested on Oct. 27, 2010, in a plot to attack the Washington, D.C., subway system. The FBI said he had al-Awlaki propaganda in his home and office.
Abdel Hameed Shehadeh
The U.S. citizen and resident of Hawaii was arrested Oct. 22, 2010. He was charged with lying about a 2008 trip he took to Pakistan, hoping to join the Taliban. Prosecutors said he tried to recruit another person to join him after the two discussed a sermon by al-Awlaki.
Shaker Masri
A Chicago resident and U.S. citizen, he was arrested on Aug. 3, 2010, hours before he was scheduled to leave Chicago for Somalia. Prosecutors say he wanted to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab and al-Qaida. Prosecutors said he viewed al-Awlaki speeches and said he hoped al-Awlaki became an al-Qaida leader.
Zachary Adam Chesser
Chesser, a U.S. citizen from Virginia, was arrested on July 21, 2010. He was charged with providing support to the Somali terror organization, al-Shabaab, by attempting to travel twice to Somalia to serve as a foreign fighter. According to court documents, one of his sources of inspiration was al-Awlaki. He told agents he e-mailed Awlaki several times and received two responses.
Paul Rockwood Jr.
He is a U.S. citizen and resident of Alaska. He pleaded guilty on July 21, 2010, to making false statements in a terrorism investigation. Rockwood, described by prosecutors as "a strict adherent of the ideology of radical al-Awlaki," created a list of 15 people he said should be executed for desecrating Islam and began researching methods to carry them out.
Mohamed Hamoud Alessa and Carlos Edwardo Almonte
Alessa, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Bergen, N.J., and Almonte, a naturalized citizen from the Dominican Republic, were arrested on June 5, 2010, and charged with conspiring to go to Egypt as a means of traveling to Somalia, where they intended to join al-Shabaab. They played for undercover officers lectures by al-Awlaki.
Barry Walter Bujol Jr.
A U.S.-born citizen and resident of Hempstead, Texas, Bujol was indicted in Texas on June 3, 2010, and accused of trying to provide material support to AQAP. The FBI says it began investigating him in 2008 and determined he had been communicating via e-mail with al-Awlaki.
Faizal Shahzad
A naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan and resident of Connecticut, he was charged on May 4, 2010, with trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Shahzad told agents who questioned him that Anwar al-Awlaki was one inspiration for his actions.
Jamie Paulin Ramirez and Colleen LaRose
Ramirez, a U.S.-born citizen and resident of Colorado, and LaRose, a U.S. citizen and resident of Pennsylvania, were charged in early 2010 with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, in connection with their travels to Europe to participate and support violent jihad. The FBI said they viewed al-Awlaki materials online.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, was charged on Dec. 26, 2009, with trying to destroy Northwest Airlines flight 253 on its final approach to Detroit Christmas Day with a bomb sewn into his underwear. The FBI said Abdulmutallab swore allegiance to the emir of AQAP in November 2009 while in Yemen and received instructions directly from Al-Awlaki.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan
An Army psychiatrist, Hasan was arrested Nov. 5, 2009, and accused in the Army court martial system of killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others at Fort Hood, Texas. Investigators say he corresponded by e-mail with al-Awlaki, who helped inspire the shootings.
Michael Finton
Finton, a U.S. citizen and resident of Decatur, Ill., was arrested Sept. 23, 2009, after he tried to detonate what he thought was a truck bomb outside the federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill. Finton posted quotes from al-Awlaki on his MySpace page.
Betim Kaziu
Kaziu, a U.S.-born citizen and resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., was indicted on Sept. 18, 2009, charged with trying to join violent jihadist groups in several nations in the Middle East and the Balkans. Testimony at his trial established that Kaziu had been radicalized, in part, by al-Awlaki speeches on the Internet.
The Fort Dix Terror Plot Defendants
They were arrested in New Jersey on May 7, 2007, on charges of planning to attack Fort Dix. They were recorded discussing the importance of al-Awlaki's call for immediate jihad. Some of the defendants were also found to be in possession of one of al-Awlaki's sermons, titled "Constants on the Path of Jihad."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.