American man now a ‘leader of one of Africa’s deadliest Islamic terror groups’
AN American man has allegedly become a senior figure in one of the deadliest Islamic terror groups in Africa.
Jehad Serwan Mostafa is the highest-ranking US citizen fighting with foreign terrorists, federal authorities said on Monday.
The 37-year-old is accused of providing crucial support to al-Shabab, an East African terrorist group inspired by Al-Qaeda, California prosecutors revealed.
Mostafa allegedly helped train soldiers, handling media operations, and plotting attacks on the Somali government and African Union forces.
He's also accused of helping to spearhead Al-Shabab's explosives department, prosecutors said.
The terrorist leader was indicted on similar crimes in 2009, but has remained at large since, even with a $5 million reward offer for information leading to his arrest and conviction, reported.
Mostafa was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin but attended high school and college in San Diego's Serra Mesa neighborhood in California.
He left the states in 2005 to travel to Yemen before landing in Somalia, where authorities now suspect him to be, officials said.
An estimated 7,000 to 9,000 fighters have been recruited by Al-Shabab since its inception in 2006, according to the .
The Somalia-based militant group has conducted attacks that have killed thousands in Somalia and neighboring Kenya.
Al-Shabab carried out one of its deadliest attacks in 2013 at the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
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The assault was one of country's worst terror attacks in history, killing at least 67 people and wounding more than 200 others, reported .
Four Somali men were arrested and imprisoned in Kenya on terrorism charges in connection with the massacre, the reported.
At least 21 people were killed in an attack by five members of Al-Shabab in January at an upscale hotel in Nairobi, reported.
More than 700 people were rescued following the siege.
The 2019 assault in the Kenyan capital was allegedly carried out in response to President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
