The United States has ordered the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki a Yemeni cleric, over alleged links to a failed Christmas airline bombing in Detroit.

Citing unnamed US officials, The Washington Post reported Wednesday that US President Barack Obama’s administration has authorized the CIA to capture and kill Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki, 38, was born in New Mexico and spent years as an imam in Virginia, before moving to Yemen.

The report claims, he has moved from the category of being militant preacher to becoming an operational figure in al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Al-Awlaki is charged with ties to an alleged failed attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.