US News

US puts $5M bounties on 2 Americans tied to al Qaeda

Two Americans with ties to an al Qaeda group in Somalia have been slapped with a multimillion dollar bounty, according to a new report.

The State Department has put up a $5 million reward each for information on Omar Hammami and Jehad Mostafa that leads to their arrest and conviction, CNN reported.

The report says the State Department put out posters and matchbooks in both Somali and English announcing the reward for the men – both of whom are on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.

The site reports that Hammami and Mostafa are members of Al-Shabaab, the terror group link to al Qaeda and “have made significant contributions to this terrorist organization’s media and military activities.”

The State Department said they are both believed to be in Somalia and speak English, Arabic and Somali.

CNN reported that a senior FBI official said the US believes both men “had a persistent interest in targeting US interests” and are “believed to be involved in planning attacks on US persons or property.”

Hammami, 29 and a native of Alabama, was indicted in an Alabama court in 2009 on charges of supporting a terrorist group, three years after he moved to Somalia, CNN reported.

Mostafa, who is either 27 or 32, was born in Wisconsin and attended college in California. He went to Somalia in 2005 and served as a media expert and recruiter for the Somali-based terror group, the site states.

CNN reports that Hillary Clinton approved the bounties before resigning her position as secretary of state.