U.S says jihadi Samir Khan from N.C. killed in Yemen

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A New York-raised protege of Anwar al-Awlaki died Friday with the U.S.-born cleric in a drone strike in Yemen, U.S. officials said.

Samir Khan, 25, was born in Saudi Arabia and became a U.S. citizen, ABC News reported. He was the editor of "Inspire," a magazine aimed at recruiting young Muslims to the al-Qaida view of jihad.

Khan is thought to have been among those killed in the airstrike in which authorities say Awlaki died. The attack was Friday in Yemen.

Khan moved to Yemen in 2009, The New York Times said. He had become a radical Muslim after his family moved to Charlotte, N.C., in 2004, and spent much of his time blogging in the basement of the family home.

"Inspire" appears to have had a great influence on several young men arrested for alleged terrorist activities in the United States and Britain, ABC said. One of its most notorious articles was titled "How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."

The most recent issue gives the editor's name as Yahya Ibrahim. U.S. analysts say they believe that was a Khan pseudonym. Among other things, the issue attacks Iran for suggesting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a U.S conspiracy instead of the work of al-Qaida.