US splashes $5m each on Nigeria, Niger terror groups’ leaders

By Samuel Aruwan

The United States yesterday issued a $5 million bounty on Khalid al-Barnawi, a suspected leader of Ansaru terror group and breakaway of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad also known as Boko Haram.
The State Department disclosed this in a statement.

The US also placed the same bounty on two terror suspects, Hamad el Khairy and Ahmed el Tilemsi of Niger Republic who are leaders of Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) and $3 million for information that would lead to arrest and conviction of Abu-Yusuf al-Muhajir, an Egyptian explosive expert.
The statement said: “The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering rewards for information on four terrorists operating in western and northern Africa.  The Secretary of State has authorised rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the location of Khalid al-Barnawi, Hamad el Khairy, and Ahmed el Tilemsi, as well as a reward of up to $3 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Abu-Yusuf al-Muhajir.

“Barnawi is reportedly a leader of the Nigeria-based terrorist group known as Ansaru, and is a former senior member of the Boko Haram terrorist organization.  Ansaru originated as a faction of Boko Haram, has close ties to al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and has sought to target Westerners, including U.S. citizens.”
It added that Barnawi reportedly helped plan the May 2011, kidnapping by Ansaru of a British and an Italian engineer, who were both killed 10 months later.  The Department of State had previously named Barnawi a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on June 21, 2012.

On the two Nigeriens, Khairy and Tilemsi, it said they are founding members of the terrorist group Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) and former members of AQIM.
On the Egyptian, it said: “Abu-Yusuf al-Muhajir is an explosives expert.  He is a former member of Tawhid w’al Jihad-Egypt (TWJ-Egypt), an extremist group active in the Sinai Peninsula from 2004 to 2006 and whose members re-established it in 2011.Muhajir was involved in attack planning against a variety of targets in Egypt, including U.S. interests.”