An air strike by Yemeni forces has killed at least 30 Al Qaeda terrorists, possibly including the radical Islamic cleric linked to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.

(CNN) — Yemeni jets launched an aerial assault Thursday against suspected senior al Qaeda operatives meeting in a remote location, and about 30 militants were killed, according to the Yemen news agency SABA.

Without mentioning a number, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington said in a news release, “Preliminary reports suggest that the strike targeted scores of Yemeni and foreign al Qaeda operatives.”

One of the militants may have been the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the embassy said.

Al-Awlaki recently told the Arab-language Web site of Al-Jazeera that he had been in touch with the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5.

In that interview, al-Awlaki said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan communicated with him via e-mail starting about a year before he went on the shooting rampage. Hasan wanted al-Awlaki’s advice about killing U.S. troops, the cleric said.

“Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the regional al Qaeda leader, and his deputy, Saeed al-Shihri, alongside Anwar al-Awlaki, were presumed to be at the site (of Thursday’s attack),” according to a news release from the Yemen Embassy in Washington.