Ubaidah was named head of Al-Shabab in September past year, after the group’s longtime emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a USA drone strike.
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“The U.S. Secretary of State has authorized rewards of up to $6 million for information on the whereabouts of Abu Ubaidah (Direye), up to $5 million each for information on Mahad Karate, Ma’alim Daud, and Hassan Afgooye, and up to $3 million each for information on Maalim Salman and Ahmed Iman Ali”, a statement from the State Department said.
The United States government says it is offering $27m as reward for details that would help locate six leaders of the Somali Islamist sect al-Shabaab.
Maalim Salman leads al-Shabaab’s African foreign fighters and is allegedly involved in operations in Africa that targets tourists, entertainment establishments and churches.
Kenyan security forces have destroyed five camps used by Al Shabaab in a sweep of Boni Forest, a commander in charge of the operation said.
Shabaab has been waging a violent insurgency inside Somalia and claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Kenya, most notably the Westgate Shopping Mall siege in Nairobi in 2013 which killed over 60 people and the Garisa University attack which claimed 147 victims earlier this year.
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 militants also launched several attacks in 2014 that left more than 100 dead in Lamu County region, an area that includes Boni forest. It also launched attacks in 2010 in Uganda, which, like Kenya, has troops in Somalia fighting the group.
The program, launched in 1984, has paid more than $125 million to more than 80 individuals who provided “actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of global terrorism worldwide”, the State Department said.
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The U.S. State Department has offered rewards for other al Shabaab leaders in the past under its Rewards for Justice program.
