Dubai (ANTARA News/AFP) - US-Yemeni radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi has renewed a call to strike the American government and citizens, the SITE monitoring agency said on Sunday.

"Both the (US) government and private citizens should be targeted," he wrote in the latest edition of Inspire, the English-language e-magazine issued by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), US-based SITE said.

"America and Americans are the imams of kufr (leaders of disbelief) in this day and age," Awlaqi said.

"The American people who vote for war-mongering governments are intent on no good. Anyone who inflicts harm on them in any form is doing a favour to the ummah (Islamic nation)," he added.

Awlaqi also said it was permissible to snatch the wealth of the enemy through deception and urged Muslims to use stolen money to fund jihad, or holy war, SITE said.

The cleric, wanted in the United States on terrorism charges, in November called for the killing of Americans "without hesitation."

"Do not consult anyone in killing Americans," Awlaqi said in a 23-minute video posted at the time on jihadist websites.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and headquarters of AQAP, has been under intense pressure from Washington to hunt down Awlaqi.

He was charged in October in Yemen with alleged ties with Al-Qaeda and incitement to kill foreigners. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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