(Update: The U.S. airstrike that rained Hellfire missiles on al-Awlaki was run by the U.S. military's elite counterterrorism unit, the Joint Special Operations Command, the same unit that got bin Laden, the AP reported.

Friday's successful kill was the result of counterterrorism cooperation between Yemen and the U.S. that has dramatically increased in recent weeks, even as Yemen has plunged deeper into turmoil as protesters try to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh, U.S. officials said.

Apparently trying to cling to power by holding his American allies closer, Saleh has opened the taps in cooperation against al-Qaida. U.S. officials said the Yemenis also have allowed the U.S. to gather more intelligence on al-Awlaki's movements and to fly more armed drone and aircraft missions over its territory than ever before.)

(CNSNews.com) - The Yemen Defense Ministry reported early Friday morning that U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who used the Internet to recruit English-speaking radicals, has been killed along with some of his bodyguards in Yemen.

No details were immediately given when the news broke around 4:40 a.m. Washington time...