Terrorist retaliation? An analysis of terrorist attacks following the targeted killing of top-tier al Qaeda leadership

retaliation targeted killing

On September 30, 2011, an American unmanned drone over Jawf Province, Yemen, fired a missile that killed, among others, Anwar al-Awlaki, the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Obituary: Anwar al-Awlaki, 2011). The American-born al- Awlaki was a highly inspirational figure, having exchanged e-mails with Major Nidal Malik Hasan and reportedly having met with Umar Farouk Abdul mutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, shortly before his failed attack (Anwar al-Awlaki, 2012).