Drone-killed Anwar al-Awlaki still seen as key inspiration for U.S. terror attacks

NEW YORK – Five years after Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by an American drone strike, he keeps inspiring acts of terror. Investigators say a bomb that rocked New York a week ago, injuring more than two dozen people, was the latest in a long line of incidents in which the attackers were inspired by al-Awlaki, an American imam who became an al-Qaida propagandist. Federal terrorism charges against the bombing suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, say a bloodstained notebook -- found on him after he engaged in a shootout with police in New Jersey and was arrested -- included passages praising al-Awlaki. And Rahami's father has said he went to the FBI two years ago in part because he was concerned about his son's admiration for al-Awlaki and the time he spent watching his videos advocating jihad, or holy war. Terror experts say al-Awlaki remains a dangerous inciter of homegrown terror.