It said it is seeking information on Mohamoud Abdi Aden, describing him as a leader of the Somalia-based al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...jihadist group that has carried out several deadly attacks in neighboring Kenya.
The al-Qaeda affiliated group grabbed credit for the January 15, 2019 siege on the upmarket DusitD2 hotel compound in the Kenyan capital Nairobi that lasted almost 20 hours.
At least 21 people bit the dust, including a US citizen, and many more were maimed. Kenya said at the time that all the assailants had been eliminated.
"Mohamoud Abdi Aden, an al-Shabaab leader, was part of the cell that planned the DusitD2 hotel attack," the US ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, told news hounds in Nairobi.
She said the US was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Aden, described by the embassy as a Kenyan national, and others accused of involvement in the hotel siege.
The head of Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Amin Mohammed Ibrahim, described Aden as the "terror criminal mastermind" behind the carnage.
The State Department designated Aden a "specially designated global terrorist" in October last year.
Al-Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the Islamist Death Eater group.
In 2013, al-Shabaab laid siege to the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi for four days, leaving 67 people dead.
In 2015, an attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenya killed 148 people, almost all of the students. Many were shot at point-blank range after being identified as Christians. It was the second bloodiest attack in Kenya’s history, surpassed only by al-Qaeda’s bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 which killed 213 people.
Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia’s fragile central government for 15 years, has been designated a terrorist group by the US since 2008.
In November, Washington said it was increasing its reward to up to $10 million apiece for key al-Shabaab leaders including "emir" Ahmed Diriye.
There were speculations all players in the attack died but Sherlocks have revealed Aden is still alive and was the criminal mastermind. He could be in Kenya or Somalia.
The offered bounty is historical and is likely to draw much attention. On January 15, 2019, al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...forces of Evil killed 22 people in an attack on the DusitD2 Hotel Complex in Nairobi, Kenya.
A jacket wallah self-detonated outside of a restaurant in the courtyard. Other terrorists, armed with automatic rifles and grenades, then sought to kill as many innocent bystanders.
They were however stopped by among others quick responses from various parties including security agencies. The attack began at 15:28 with a detonation of a suicide bomber, Mahir Riziki.
Four button men — Ali Salim Gichunge, Osman Ibrahim Gedi, Siyat Omar Abdi, and an unknown individual — then proceeded with the attack using AK-pattern rifles and grenades, targeting people within the DusitD2 Hotel and surrounding shops.
The terrorists’ images emerged in December 2020 when al-Shabaab released a seven-minute clip showing them preparing to attack the complex.
The attack resulted in 22 civilian deaths. The four button men also died in the attack.
Officials say the DusitD2 attack was carried out on a significant date, coinciding with the third anniversary of al-Shabaab’s overrunning of a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) base in El Adde, Gedo region.
Suspects Mire Abdulahi Ali, Mohammed Hussein Abdile, and Mohammed Abdi Ali are facing at least five charges in connection with the attack where 22 people were killed and dozens maimed.
The charges include conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, aiding and abetting a terror act, committing fraud in the registration of documents, and facilitating a terror act.
The attackers had planned to stream the attack live on social media. Their plans were cut short by the swift response from security agencies and other parties. They were all killed a few hours later.