Prime Minister Ali Mujawar has said that Yemen would not accept any U.S. attempt to kill wanted terrorist cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki on its soil. We will never accept that. We are a country that has absolute sovereignty, the premier told Reuters.

Most recent information revealed that Al-Awlaki is still in Shabwa, he said, rejecting to describe Yemen as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda.

'Yemen has not been and never will be so…..there is Qaeda in the country and we recognize this but terrorists are operating in different parts of the republic and are afraid amid security measures and continuous hunting for them,' he said.

'The media is exaggerating about Al-Qaeda in the country and Yemen is doing its best to uproot the evil from its territory.'

Mujawar touched upon the appointment of former Guantanamo detainee Othman Al-Ghamdi as a new leader in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula saying the news was a development in the battle against extremists in Yemen. However, he said that Yemen has no association with those who come to or leave it.

Anwar Al-Awlaki is wanted by the U.S. after the attack at one of its army bases in Texas in which many were killed and injured. Earlier, President Barack Obamba gave orders to bring him dead or alive.

But Yemen has recently announced it would not extradite Al-Awlaki, if he was arrested, because he is now wanted by national authorities after his involvement in terrorist activity.

More recently, the U.S. intensified intelligence activity in Yemen in search for Al-Qaeda elements topped by Al-Awlaki who said after the attack on Fort Hood Base that Nadal, the officer responsible for the shooting, was one of his students.