A number of sources reported contacts between Abdulmutallab and Anwar al-Awlaki , an American Yemeni Muslim lecturer and spiritual leader who had been accused of being a senior al-Qaeda talent recruiter and motivator . Al-Awlaki , who was killed by an unmanned United States drone in Yemen in September 2011 , was previously an imam in the U.S . He was associated with three of the 9/11 hijackers , who prayed at his mosque ; the 2005 London Bombings ; a 2006 Toronto terror cell ; a 2007 Fort Dix attack plot ; and the 2009 Fort Hood shooter
Fort Hood shooter
2009 Fort Hood shooting
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab