Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is
offering rewards for information on three members of the Somalia-based
terrorist organization Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin, al-Shabaab. The Department
has authorized rewards of up to $3 million each for information leading to the
arrest or conviction of Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, Jafar, and Yasin Kilwe.
Since 2006, al-Shabaab has killed thousands of civilians, aid
workers, and peacekeepers in Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility
for the July 11, 2010, suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, which killed more
than 70 people, including one American citizen. Al-Shabaab also claimed
responsibility for the September 21-24, 2013, terrorist attack against the
Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left more than 60 people dead and nearly
200 wounded.
Al-Shabaab’s terrorist activities pose a threat to the stability
of East Africa and to the national security interests of the United States. The
U.S. Secretary of State named 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.
Abdikadir, better known as Ikrima, was born in 1979 in Kenya to
Somali parents. Ikrima reportedly has medium-length hair and has worn a thick
moustache. He is missing three fingers on his left hand. He has coordinated the
recruitment of Kenyan youth into al-Shabaab and commanded a force of
al-Shabaab’s Kenyan fighters in Somalia.
Jafar, also known as Amar, is an al-Shabaab facilitator and has
served as Ikrima’s deputy, and is reportedly missing one eye.
Yasin Kilwe is al-Shabaab’s emir for Puntland in northern
Somalia. Kilwe was officially appointed al-Shabaab’s leader in the region by
Al-Shabaab emir Ahmed Abdi aw-Godane. Kilwe pledged his allegiance to
al-Shabaab and al-Qaida in February 2012.
More
information about these individuals is located on the Rewards for Justice
website at www.rewardsforjustice.net. We encourage anyone
with information on these individuals to contact the Rewards for Justice office
via the website, e-mail (RFJ@state.gov), phone
(1-800-877-3927), or mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303,
USA). All information will be kept strictly confidential.
The
Rewards for Justice program is administered by the U.S. Department of State's
Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Since its inception in 1984, the program has
paid in excess of $125 million to more than 80 people who provided actionable
information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international
terrorism worldwide.
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