Career
The Central Intelligence Agency used an RQ-1 Predator drone to shoot a Hellfire missile, destroying the vehicle in which he was driving with five others That an American citizen had been killed by the Central Intelligence Agency without trial drew criticism. American authorities quickly back-pedaled on their stories celebrating the death of Derwish, instead noting they had been unaware he was in the car which they said had been targeted for its other occupants, including Abu Ali al-Harithi, believed to have played some role in the United States Ship Cole bombing.
According to former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Ali Soufan, Derwish was al-Harithi"s main assistant.
Derwish was born at Mercy Hospital in southern Buffalo, grew up in and continued to live "on and off" in the suburb of Lackawanna. He briefly worked for the plastics factory in the area, but also frequently traveled overseas building up an "air of mystery" around him, as he combined religious fervour with Western ways.
He possibly used the name "Ahmed Hijazi". Return to New York
He was visibly upset with the "decline" of the Buffalo suburb, noting how much the standard of living had fallen since his earlier days in the Ward.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation later claimed to have been alarmed when they discovered he had spoken to Tawfig bin Attash and Saad bin Laden.
On November 3, 2002, Derwish and al-Harithi were part of a convoy of vehicles moving through the Yemeni desert trying to meet someone, unaware that their contact was cooperating with United States forces to lure them into a trap. As their driver spoke on satellite phone, trying to figure out why the two parties couldn"t see each other if they were both at the rendezvous point, a Predator drone launched a Hellfire missile, killing everybody in the vehicle. Central Intelligence Agency officers in Djibouti had received clearance for the attack from director George Tenet.
Derwish"s uncle provided a deoxyribonucleic acid sample which showed that Derwish had been killed in the attack.
Since Yemen and Djibouti were not involved in the War on Terror, and no attempt was made to arrest the men in the convoy before killing them, the attack was protested as an extrajudicial execution and a violation of human rights.