A political advisor of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh denied on Friday that cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been radicalized in Yemen.
"I can confirm that Anwar al-Awlaki has not been radicalized in Yemen,but during his presence in the United States," said the advisor, Abdul-Kareem al-Eryani, in an interview conducted by the Public Broadcasting Service, Xinhua reported.
Awlaki was born in the United States and later moved to Yemen, where he is reportedly hiding in the mountainous province of Shabwa. He was put on the United Nations terrorist list early this week, and on the U.S. "capture or kill" list three months ago.
The 38-year-old cleric allegedly had ties with several terror attacks, including 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. It emerged last year he had communicated extensively by email with Major Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas.
Al-Qaida was blamed for a number of high-impact attacks in Yemen against the Western and Yemeni targets during 2009 and the beginning of 2010.
However, the advisor said the al-Qaida wing in Yemen was not very strong, as "its members range only from 500 to 700". He added the terrorist group posed more a threat to Saudi Abrabia than Yemen.