And we were critical of U.S. officials who let Khan out of the country. Sigh. via Ex-Charlotte man killed in U.S. attack in Yemen, charlotteobserver.com
Samir Khan, who left his northeast Charlotte home for Yemen and became editor of an al Qaida-linked web magazine, was among the militants reported killed Friday in a U.S. air strike in Yemen.
Yemen’s Defense Ministry announced that Khan, 25, was killed in the same strike that claimed Anwar al-Awlaki, also an American militant. Al-Awlaki, 40, was considered one of the top figures in the terrorist group’s network.
Khan spent his early years in New York but moved to Charlotte with his family in 2004.
He attended CPCC and wrote a militant blog while a student there. That blog, titled “Inshallahshaheed,” or “a martyr soon if God wills,” was the first of several blogs he edited while living with his parents in northeast Charlotte.
National Public Radio reported a year ago that the FBI was preparing to bring terrorist charges against Khan, although FBI officials in the Charlotte area said they could not comment on the reports.
After moving to Yemen, apparently two or three years ago, he began producing “Inspire,” an English-language magazine for al Qaida. At the time, Khan wrote that he “pledged to wage jihad for the rest of our lives.”
The magazine included articles on how to conduct terrorist attacks in the United States. The most recent edition of the magazine focused on the U.S. media.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick has used Khan as an example of the reason she is pushing for tougher anti-terrorism laws in the United States.
U.S. military officials told the Associated Press on Friday that they believe Khan was in the convoy carrying al-Awlaki. That convoy was attacked by the same U.S. Joint Special Operations Command unit that killed Osama bin Laden earlier this year.
Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, told the Observer last year that Khan’s views were widely rejected in the local Muslim community. Hough said Khan was not allowed to speak at any of the major mosques.
Hough also told the Observer that Muslim community leaders, including Khan’s father, met with Khan in late 2007 and early 2008 in an unsuccessful effort to steer him away from supporting terrorism.
“Our counseling didn’t look like it made that great of an impact,” Hough said.
To be a fly on the wall during those impact-less “counseling” sessions.
