Tuesday 20 November 2012

FBI updates its most wanted terrorists list, adds Alabama man believed to be in Somalia






                                               inset: Omar Shafik Hammami, source Google images

The FBI on Wednesday placed Omar Shafik Hammami, formerly of Alabama, on its list. Officials believe Hammami is a senior leader in the Somalia-based terror group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaida. He faces charges in Alabama of providing material support to terrorists. The FBI also added to the list a Filipino man who officials say is the head of a local terror group and was involved in the 1993 kidnapping of an American in the Philippines.

The FBI says Omar Shafik Hammami has been a senior leader in the terror group al-Shabab. Officials believe Hammami moved to Somalia in 2006 and joined the group, later designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

From Somalia, Hammami has taken on the role of jihadi lecturer and Islamic scholar. After U.S. Navy SEALs killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, Hammami threatened at a news conference near Mogadishu to avenge the killing. Hammami faces charges in the U.S. of providing material support to terrorists. The FBI created its "Most Wanted Terrorist" list a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Also last week wednesday, the FBI added an Afghan man to its list of people about whom the bureau is seeking information. The FBI wants to talk to Shaykh Aminullah because of his ties to the Pakistan-based terror organization, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Officials have no information about Aminullah regarding specific planning of attacks on Americans, FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin said. Aminullah has not been charged in the U.S. with any crimes. In 2009, he was placed on the Treasury Department’s list of designated terrorists, blocking any assets he has in the U.S. and banning Americans from doing business with him.

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