...
...
Next Story

How much for my left leg, asks US jihadi with $5 mn bounty on his head

A US extremist fighting with Islamist militants in Somalia on Friday brushed off a $5 million bounty offered by the State Department, jokingly asking how much he could get for his left leg.

Updated on: Mar 22, 2013 02:24 PM IST
Advertisement

A US extremist fighting with Islamist militants in Somalia on Friday brushed off a $5 million bounty offered by the state department, jokingly asking how much he could get for his left leg.

Alabama-born Omar Hamami - better known as Abu Mansur Al-Amriki or "the American" - is in Somalia, where he has fought with the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents.

On Wednesday the US State Department's Rewards for Justice program offered the sizable reward for his arrest.

"As I'm a bit low on cash, how much is my left leg going for? I figure, Shamil Basayev did the one-leg jihad thing," he wrote on Twitter, referring to a dead Islamist commander of a Chechen rebel movement, who lost a leg in fighting the Russian army.

Hamami, 28, moved to Somalia in 2006 and began to work for Shebab recruiting young trainees through his English-language rap songs and videos, the State Department said in a statement.

Hamami was indicted in 2009 by an Alabama district court for providing support to a terrorist organisation, and two years later he was placed on a US Treasury blacklist freezing all his assets in the United States.

The State Department also offered a $5 million bounty for Jehad Mostafa, a former resident of California, who left for Somalia in 2005 where he provided media support and lead foreign fighters.

 
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe