Yemen eyes Abdulmutallab-cleric link

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Yemeni investigators say they’re looking into a link between the man accused in the failed Christmas Day airliner terror attack and a radical Muslim cleric.

Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, Yemen’s deputy prime minister for defense and security affairs, told The Washington Post Thursday investigators believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab met with suspected al-Qaida operatives at a house used by Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Al-Alimi also said the cleric — also tied to the accused gunman in the Fort Hood, Texas, massacre — was alive. U.S. officials said they thought al-Awlaki was killed in a Dec. 24 airstrike on a house in southeastern Yemen, the Post reported Thursday.

U.S. officials also were investigating whether the cleric played a role in the failed Christmas Day attack, the Post said.

Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to blow up Detroit-bound Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas. UPI

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