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Biography
Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi a.k.a. Abu Ali al-Harithi (Arabic: أبو علي الحارثي ) (died November 3, 2002) was an al-Qaeda operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected of having been involved in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing, and the October Limburg attack.
He was killed by the CIA during a covert targeted killing mission in Yemen on November 3, 2002. The CIA used a Predator drone to shoot the Hellfire missile that killed al-Harithi and five other al-Qaeda operatives as they rode in a vehicle 100 miles (160 km) east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. It was the first known drone strike outside of Afghanistan.
Al-Harithi was traveling with Kamal Derwish (Ahmed Hijazi), a US citizen, and Derwish's killing was the first known case of the U.S. government killing a U.S. citizen during the "War on Terror". It was also the first Predator attack outside Afghanistan.
The George W. Bush administration, citing the authority of a presidential finding that permitted worldwide covert actions against Osama bin Laden's network, considered al-Harethi and his traveling party a justifiable military target. Nonetheless, the targeted killing of al-Harethi was the subject of debate on its legality.