Relatives say tribe in Yemen protects US cleric

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — A radical American-Yemeni Islamic cleric suspected of ties to al-Qaida is in hiding in the remote mountains of Yemen under the protection of his tribe as he seeks to elude a manhunt, relatives and tribesmen say.

Anwar al-Awlaki’s run from authorities is the culmination of what U.S. and Yemeni officials say is the charismatic cleric’s slide toward terrorists.

They say al-Awlaki, who once preached in mosques in California and northern Virginia and posted fiery English-language Internet sermons urging Muslims to fight in jihad, is now an active participant in al-Qaida’s offshoot in his turbulent ancestral homeland.

Al-Awlaki has been connected with the alleged perpetrators of two recent attacks on American soil: the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas and the attempt to bomb a U.S. passenger jet as it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day.

His family and many members of his powerful Awalik tribe deny the 38-year-old is a member of al-Qaida, depicting him as a victim of Yemeni and U.S. persecution. The Yemeni government is negotiating with tribal leaders, trying to convince them to hand al-Awlaki over to authorities, two prominent Awalik sheiks told The Associated Press.

One sheik said authorities have offered guarantees they would not turn al-Awlaki over to the United States or let American officials question him if he surrenders.

“Anwar is in a safe place, and the tribe is standing behind him because he has nothing to do with al-Qaida,” one of the sheiks told AP by telephone from Shabwa province, the rugged region of towering mountains and deep, nearly inaccessible valleys where al-Awlaki is hiding.

The two sheiks spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Al-Awlaki’s direct role in al-Qaida — if any — remains unclear.

He rose to prominence as one of the few English-speaking radical clerics able to eloquently explain to young Muslims in America and other Western countries the philosophy of violent jihad and martyrdom against the West and its allied Muslim and Arab governments.

But U.S. intelligence officials believe he has now become an active operative in al-Qaida and has performed activities beyond those of a cleric, senior defense officials in Washington said.