NAIROBI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The United States has offered a five-million-dollar reward each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of two Al-Shabaab militants.
In a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Nairobi on Thursday, the State Department said Omar Shafik Hammami, alias Abu Mansour al-Amriki, and Jehad Serwan Mostafa, alias Ahmed Gurey or Anwar al-Amriki are American citizens believed to have become fighters for the Somali insurgent group.
"The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is offering rewards for information on two members of the Somalia-based terrorist organization, Al-Shabaab," the statement said.
The bounties will be administered by the department's Rewards for Justice program. It will be first time the program has offered rewards for members of the militant group which is accused of terrorist attacks in Somalia, Uganda and Kenya.
According to the statement, Hammami is a U.S. citizen and former resident of Daphne, Alabama. In 2006, Hammami moved to Somalia where he joined and received training from militants.
Hammami has served as a propagandist for al-Shabaab, helping to recruit English-speaking youth through his writings, rap songs, and video statements. He also has served as a military commander, leading foreign fighters under Jehad Serwan Mostafa.
In September 2009, Hammami was indicted in the Southern District of Alabama on charges of providing support to terrorists, conspiring to provide material support to a State Department- designated foreign terrorist organization (Al-Shabaab), and providing material support to Al-Shabaab.
On July 29, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury placed Hammami on the U.S. Government's Specially Designated Nationals list pursuant to Executive Order 13536, which provides authority to block the property of, and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with, individuals and entities whose actions threaten the peace, security, or stability of Somalia.
In November 2012, the FBI added him to its Most Wanted Terrorists list. Hammami was born on May 6, 1984 and has used the aliases Abu Mansour al-Amriki and Farouk.
Mostafa is a U.S. citizen and former resident of San Diego, California. Mostafa departed for Somalia in 2005 and has served as a media expert and leader of foreign fighters for Al-Shabaab.
He was indicted on October 9, 2009 in the Southern District of California on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to provide material support to Al-Shabaab, and providing material support to Al-Shabaab.
Mostafa is on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list. He has used birth years of 1981 and 1986 and has used the aliases Ahmed Gurey, Anwar al-Amriki, and Emir Anwar.
Washington named the militant organization in 2008 to its list of foreign terrorist organizations, imposing financial and other restrictions on the group which is being blamed for a series of grenade, bomb attacks in Kenya including abduction of foreigners.
