Yemen orders US-born cleric to be found 'dead or alive'

Yemen is under heavy U.S. pressure to crack down on the country's al-Qaida offshoot after a scheme to send bombs through the mail in packages addressed to the U.S. was thwarted a week ago.

The group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the plot on Friday.

The cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, was born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents and is one of the most prominent English-language radical clerics.

His sermons advocating jihad, or holy war, against the United States have influenced militants involved in several attacks or attempted attacks on U.S. soil.

Yemeni officials have been reported as saying that he may have blessed the mail bomb plot, while not necessarily taking an active part in it.

The United States has already authorized the CIA to capture or kill al-Awlaki, who has also been linked to the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in December 2009.

The cleric is thought to be hiding in the mountains of southern Yemen, enjoying the protection of family and his large tribe, while facing what some described as only a half-hearted effort by the Yemeni authorities to capture or kill him.

With the sudden trial and the arrest order, Yemen appears as trying to show American allies that it considers the cleric a serious threat.

Judge Mohsen Allwan ordered al-Awlaki to be "arrested by force, dead or alive" after he failed to appear for the start of his trial in Yemen on Tuesday.

He was charged last week as a co-defendant in a surprise announcement as part of the trial of another man, Hisham Assem, who has been accused of killing a Frenchman in an attack at an oil firm compound on 6 Oct.