The United States has announced the addition of five key members of African terror groups to the “Rewards for Justice” list. The reward offers on these terror suspects, believed capable of committing terrorist attacks, range from $3 million to $7 million dollars.

Abubakar Shekau – Reward for Justice $7 million
Shekau is the commander of the Boko Haram, a terrorist group with plans to overthrow the Nigerian government and replace it with a government based on Islamic law. Shekau took control of the Boko Haram in 2010 and expressed solidarity with al Qaeda, threatening to attack the United States and Western interests in Nigeria. Shekau has kidnapped a number of Westerners for ransom, and in 2011 sent a suicide bomber to attack the United Nations headquarters in Abuja.

Having facilitated an escalating jihadist uprising, initiated dozens of suicide attacks, and launched hundreds of IED and armed attacks in Nigeria, Shekau was added to the U.S. list of global terrorists in June of 2012.

Mokhtar Blemokhtar – Reward for Justice $5 million
Blemokhtar is the leader of the Mua’qi’oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade. Despite formally splitting from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in December of 2012 over a leadership dispute, Blemokhtar continues to carry out joint operations with them and reports directly to al Qaeda’s key leadership.

His Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade is responsible for three recent terrorist attacks in Algeria and Niger. In January more than 40 fighters carried out a major suicide bombing attack against a gas facility in the name of al Qaeda, and in May they executed two more suicide attacks in retaliation for the death of a senior AQIM commander; one targeting a military barracks in Agadez and another targeting a uranium mine in Arlit.

Yahya Abu Hammam – Reward for Justice $5 million
Hammam, real name Jemal Oukacha, has been waging jihad in North Africa for over a decade. He took control of AQIM’s operations in the Sahel region of North Africa last fall, and was added to the U.S. list of global terrorists in January 2013. According to the State Department, Hammam has kidnapped Westerners in North and West Africa, been central to AQIM’s terrorist activities in West Africa and Mali, and participated in several AQIM terrorist attacks in Mauritania”.

Malik Abou Abdelkarim – Reward for Justice $3 million
Abdelkarim is a high-ranking leader of a group of fighters within AQIM. Under his command, his group has accumulated weapons and committed a number of small-scale terrorist attacks in North and West Africa.

Oumar Ould Hamaha – Reward for Justice $3 million
Hamama, a former commander in AQIM, is the current spokesman for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and has also identified himself as spokesman for the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade. As a member of AQIM, he has kidnapped foreigners for ransom, including Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler in December 2008.

In December 2012, Hamaha claimed the Those Who Sign in Blood’s split from AQIM was actually a deliberate move to facilitate attacks in the Sahara, which is supported by the continued cooperation of the two terror groups. Hamaha told The Associated Press, “It’s so that we can better operate in the field that we have left [AQIM]. We want to enlarge our zone of operation throughout the entire Sahara.”

– Dana Johnson

Source: Long War Journal
Photo: RT