Report: Officials Thought They Might Kill Anwar Al-Awlaki On Anniversary Of 9/11

At 5:15 a.m. ET, ABC News reported that the Yemeni government has confirmed that American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed in Yemen. A missile had hit him approximately five miles from the town of Khashef, about 87 miles east of the capital city of Sana’a. Al-Awlaki had been called “the most significant threat to U.S. homeland security” following the death of Osama bin Laden for his ties to the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Ft. Hood shooting, the failed bombing in Times Square, and more.

Further ABC News reports from White House correspondent Jake Tapper reveal that there had been a “flurry of activity” on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Writes Tapper:

As President Obama shuttled between Shanksville, Penn., New York, NY, and the Pentagon, officials “thought they had a good opportunity to hit him,” the official says. “We waited, but it never materialized.”A senior White House official says Awlaki was “very operational, every day he was plotting, he had very unique skills, and it’s good to get

him in Yemen where AQAP” – al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – “is planting the flag.”

RELATED: US Citizen And Top Terrorist Suspect Anwar Al-Awlaki Killed In Drone Attack

Al-Awlaki had been born in New Mexico, educated in Colorado and overseen mosques in California and Virginia. He had been an instrumental part of the Al Qaeda terrorist network — and a particular threat to the U.S. — for his ability to recruit and indoctrinate recruits using American vernacular.

Watch this morning’s breaking news report, courtesy of ABC News:

h/t ABCNews.com