The United States has doubled the bounty placed on two al-Qaeda suspects in connection with 1998 US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam to Sh1billion.
The
US State Department is rewarding anybody who has information
on Ahmed Abdullah and Sayf al-Adl on
their
location, arrest, or conviction.
This represents a doubling of the previous reward offers in December 2000.
Both men are Egyptians now in their 50s who are wanted by the FBI for allegedly helping plan and execute the attacks that killed a total of 224 East Africans and 12 Americans. More than 5,000 people were wounded.
Sayf al-Adl /COURTESY
The US State Department said both individuals served as members of al-Qaeda’s leadership council, and al-Adl also served on the group’s military committee.
Abdullah and al-Adl
were charged by a federal grand jury in November 1998 for their role in the August 7, 1998, bombings.
In 2001, Abdullah and al-Adl were added to the UN Security Council’s al-Qaeda Sanctions List as well as the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals under Executive Order 13224 for their activities in support of al-Qaida.
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"We encourage anyone with information about these individuals to contact the Rewards for Justice office," the US said.
They should send the information
via e-mail (), by phone (1-800-877-3927 in North America), or by mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303, USA).
"All information will be kept strictly confidential," it added.
Abdullah
In the 1990’s, Abdullah provided military training to al-Qaeda operatives as well as Somali tribesmen who fought against U.S. forces in Mogadishu during Operation Restore Hope.
From 1996-1998, he operated multiple al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
After the embassy bombings, Abdullah moved to Iran under the protection of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In 2003 Iranian authorities placed him and other al-Qaeda leaders under house arrest.
In September 2015, Abdullah and other senior al-Qaeda leaders were released from Iranian custody in exchange for an Iranian diplomat kidnapped by al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Al-Adl
Al-Adl is an al-Qaeda senior leader and a member of AQ’s leadership council, the “majlis al-shura.” Al-Adl also heads al-Qaeda’s military committee.
Al-Adl was indicted and charged by a federal grand jury for the bombings.
He was a lieutenant colonel in the Egyptian Special Forces until his arrest in 1987 with thousands of other anti-government militants following an assassination attempt on Egypt’s interior minister
As early as 1990, al-Adl and other al-Qawda operatives provided military and intelligence training in various countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan, for the use of al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.