Yemen's Defense Ministry says radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed.

The ministry says Awlaki, who is linked to al-Qaida forces in the country, was killed along with several other suspected militants.

It did not release any additional information on the circumstances of his death.

But tribal sources and security officials say the U.S.-born cleric was killed early Friday in an air strike targeting an al-Qaida convoy in the country's east.

It is not clear who carried out the raid.

Awlaki was wanted by both the U.S. and Yemen for his suspected role in terrorist attacks, including the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner in 2009. He is also believed to have acted as an advisor to the suspect in a deadly shooting spree at a U.S. military base in Texas and the killing of a Frenchman in Yemen last year.

U.S. authorities had linked the cleric to the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.