An Army psychiatrist accused of fatally shooting 13 at the Fort Hood, Texas, military base had asked for a Muslim cleric’s advice about killing U.S. troops, according to a new interview.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan communicated with a radical Islamic cleric via e-mail for about a year before he went on a shooting rampage that wounded 40 on November 5, Anwar al-Awlaki told Aljazeera.net.

“The first message I received from Nidal was on December 17, 2008 … He is the one who started messaging me,” he said. “In it, he asked me whether killing U.S. soldiers and officers is legal [under Islamic law].”

Al-Awlaki said he met Hasan nine years ago while serving as an imam at a mosque in the Washington, D.C. area. He said the shooting happened about a year from the time the suspect made the inquiry.

Hasan, a U.S.-born citizen of Palestinian descent, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, making him eligible for the death penalty. Retired Army Col. John Galligan, Hasan’s civilian attorney, has said his client is considering pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

Al-Awlaki said he lauded the Fort Hood attack because it was aimed at troops, whom he accused of fighting an unjust war against Islam.

“It is a military target inside America and there is no dispute over that,” he said. “Also, these military personnel are not ordinary; they were trained and ready to fight and kill oppressed Muslims and commit crimes in Afghanistan.”

Despite his approval, Al-Awlaki said his role was only limited to Hasan’s thought process, adding that he’d “be honored if I had a bigger role.”

Meanwhile, multiple media outlets are reporting that the radical Muslim cleric may have been killed in a Thursday morning attack on a suspected Al Qaeda hideout.

Yemini forces appear to have targeted Anwar al-Aulaqi in his Shabwa, Yemen, home in an air strike that killed at least 30 suspected terrorists, The Washington Post reported.

The Yemini-American cleric served as an imam at two mosques attended by three Sept. 11 hijackers, one in northern Virginia and another in California. It was during his stint at a northern Virginia mosque that Aulaqi also came into contact with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army shrink suspected in the shooting rampage that left 13 dead.

Al Qaeda leadership was believed to be gathering at Aulaqi’s home to plot revenge against Yemeni and foreign targets, The Washington Post reported, citing statements posted on Yemini government Web sites.

Whether Aulaqi was actually present at the conclave, though, was not immediately clear, a Yemini official speaking on the condition of anonymity told the newspaper.

(Source: CNN / NY Daily News)