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U.S. offers up to 5 million dollars for info on key IS leader

Xinhua, November 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United States offered an award of up to 5 million U.S. dollars for information on a key Islamic State(IS) leader, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.

In a press release, the State Department said it offers a reward worth 5 million dollars for "information leading to the location or identification of Tirad al-Jarba, better known as Abu-Muhammad al-Shimali," a key leader of IS.

Abu-Muhammad al-Shimali, a senior IS border chief, "now serves as a key leader in ISIL's Immigration and Logistics Committee, and is responsible for facilitating the travel of foreign terrorist fighters," the State Department said.

"Al-Shimali and the ISIL Immigration and Logistics Committee coordinate smuggling activities, financial transfers, and the movement of supplies into Syria and Iraq from Europe, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula".

On Nov. 10, the State Department on its website announced rewards worth 27 million dollars on six senior commanders of Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab.

This includes 6 million dollars for information on the whereabouts of Abu Ubaidah, also known as Direye, who became head of the terrorist group after a U.S. airstrike killed his predecessor Ahmed Abdi Godane in September 2014, it said on its website.

Up to five million dollars was offered for information on Mahad Karate, Ma'alim Daud and Hassan Afgooye.

Mahad Karate allegedly planned the attack on Kenya's Garrissa University College that killed over 100 people.

Up to three million dollars rewards are offered for two other leaders, Maalim Salman and Ahmed Iman Ali.

The Al-Qaida linked group Al-Shabaab is battling to topple the Somali federal government and seeking to establish an Islamist state in Somalia.

"Since 2006, al-Shabaab has killed thousands of civilians, aid workers and peacekeepers in Somalia, Uganda and Kenya," the State Department said.

The total 32-million-dollar rewards are offered under the U.S. State Department's "Rewards for Justice" program. Enditem