(FreedomBeacon.com)- The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maalim Ayman or anyone connected to the Jan. 5, 2020, terrorist attack on US and Kenyan servicemen at the Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya.
In the year 2020, the administration of former President Donald Trump classified Maalim Ayman as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Ayman was the leader of an al-Shabab unit, which is an al-Qaida affiliate.
Ayman is suspected of planning the terrorist attack that took place in Kenya. A U.S. soldier and two U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors were killed in the early-morning attack on Camp Simba in Cooperative Security Location (CSL) near Manda Bay. Three U.S. service personnel and a third DoD contractor were also injured.
In a video released following the event, Al-Shabab stated they were responsible for the attack.
In a release announcing the reward, the State Department wrote, “Based in East Africa, al-Shabab is one of al-Qaida’s most dangerous affiliates and is responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Kenya, Somalia, and neighboring countries that have killed thousands of people, including U.S. citizens.”
According to the report on the Independent Review of the USAFRICOM15-6 Investigation, the attack’s damages are estimated to have cost more than 90 million US dollars.
Six American planes destroyed in the first few minutes of the strike are included in the report’s list of financial losses.
An additional $10 million in harm has been done to American infrastructure, vehicles, and equipment.
The terrorist organization “continues to plot, plan, and conspire to commit terrorist actions against the United States of America, as well as against the interests of the United States of America’s foreign allies,” according to the State Department.
In March 2008, the United States government recognized Al-Shabab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The State Department says that the RFJ program, which the Diplomatic Security Service administers, has paid more than $250 million to more than 125 people worldwide for providing “actionable information” to protect U.S. national security.
