U.S. offers Ksh 1.4B for information on six Al Shabaab leaders

The U.S. government has announced a 1.4 billion shillings bounty on the heads of six top leaders of Somali terror group Al Shabaab.

A reward of up to 600 million shillings is being offered for information on the whereabouts of Al-Shabab’s leader, Abu Ubaidah also known as Direye. Ubaidah was named head of Al-Shabab in September last year, after the group’s longtime emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

The U.S Department of State’s Rewards for Justice Program has also offered a reward of up to 500 million shillings to anyone with information on the location of three other high-ranking leaders – Mahad Karate, Ma’Alim Daud and Hassan Afgooye.

Karate, also known as Abdirahman Mohamed Warsame, has played a key role in the wing of al-Shabaab responsible for assassinations. Karate is also said to have played a key role during this year’s terror attack at Kenya’s Garissa University College where 148 people were killed and hundred others injured.

Ma’alim Daud is said to be responsible for Al Shabab’s planning, recruitment, training, and operations against the government of Somalia and Western targets.

While Ma’alim Daud Hassan Afgooye oversees a complex financial network whose activities range from fake charities, fundraising, racketeering and kidnapping in support of Al Shabaab’s activities.

The United States is also offering rewards of up to 300 million shillings for information on other leaders identified as Maalim Salman and Ahmed Iman Ali.

Salman leads Al-Shabaab’s African foreign terrorist fighters and has been involved in operations in Africa targeting tourists, entertainment establishments, and churches, while Ali has been linked to recruitment of Kenyan youth and raising funds for the terror group.

According to the justice program’s website, it has paid out 1.25 billion shillings to more than 80 people who provided information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring perpetrators of previous atrocities to justice.

Since 2006, Al-Shabaab militants have killed thousands of civilians, aid workers, and peacekeepers in Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the September 2013, terrorist attack against the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, which left 67 people dead and nearly 200 wounded.

The terror group also claimed responsibility for the April 2nd attack on Garrissa University College in Kenya that left 148 people dead. The U.S. Secretary of State designated al-Shabaab a Foreign Terrorist Organization on March 18, 2008.

In February 2012, Al Shabaab and the al-Qaida terrorist network jointly announced they had formed an alliance. Kenya Defense Forces are among thousands of AMISOM troops battling the insurgents in Somalia.