U.S. confirms death of man linked to alleged Buffalo terror cell

American citizen killed in Yemen missile strike

Wreckage remains after a car carrying suspected terrorists was hit by a U.S. missile in Yemen.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An American citizen believed to be the recruiter of a suspected terrorist sleeper cell in the Buffalo, New York area was among those killed by a U.S. missile during a CIA operation in Yemen last week, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

U.S. officials have no doubt that Ahmed Hijazi -- also known as Kamal Derwish -- was one of six people killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator unmanned aircraft, the source said. Any information to the contrary is coming from someone who "doesn't know what he's talking about," an official said.

The target of the attack was Abu Ali, also known as Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, a former security guard for Osama bin Laden who was believed to have played a significant role in the attack on the destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in October 2000 in the Yemeni port city of Aden. It is believed that he was al Qaeda's top operative in Yemen.

Officials said the CIA did not know that Derwish was in the car before it launched the missile that blew apart the vehicle, reducing it to black ash.

Derwish has been identified by law enforcement sources as a key to the alleged operation to recruit young men of Yemeni descent from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna in western New York. In September, the Justice Department charged six men with traveling to Afghanistan and participating in terrorist training camps run by al Qaeda.

Prosecutors say the men were recruited by Derwish, who at one time lived in Lackawanna.

Derwish was not charged, and before the missile attack was thought to be overseas, possibly in Yemen, along with Jaber Elbaneh, who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

The Lackawanna men were indicted on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda. The government says it has no evidence the men were planning an attack in the United States or elsewhere.

All have pleaded not guilty.

-- CNN's David Ensor contributed to this report

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