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US announces Sh1.3bn bounty on second Manda Bay terror suspect
The US has announced a reward of up to about $10 million (Sh1.29 billion) for information on terror suspect Abdullahi Banati.
The United States government has announced a reward of up to about $10 million (Sh1.29 billion) for information on terror suspect Abdullahi Banati.
Banati is linked to the Jaysh Ayman, an Al-Shabaab unit responsible for the January 5, 2020 terrorist attack on Manda Bay Airfield in Lamu County.
This is the second person the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) is offering a bounty on with regards to the Manda attack.
The RFJ is a programme administered by the Diplomatic Security Service of the US government.
In 2023, it offered a similar reward for anyone sharing information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Maalim Ayman who was also linked to the attack on US and Kenyan personnel at the Manda Bay.
Maalim Ayman is the leader of Jaysh Ayman, and was profiled to be responsible for preparing the January 2020 attack.
In November 2020, the Department of State designated Ayman as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order (EO) 13224, as amended.
On Wednesday, the US said Banati "was one of the individuals involved in the operational planning of the January 5, 2020 attack on Manda Bay Airfield. Al-Shabaab — al-Qaeda’s principal affiliate in East Africa — is responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Kenya, Somalia, and neighbouring countries that have killed thousands of people, including US citizens”.
In the pre-dawn attack, al-Shabaab terrorists killed a US soldier and two US Department of Defense (DoD) contractors.
Two other US service members and a third DoD contractor were wounded.
Al-Shabaab subsequently released a video in which a spokesperson for the group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Manda Bay Airfield is part of a Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) military base used by US armed forces to provide training and counterterrorism support to East African partners, respond to crises, and protect US interests in the region.
Mr Banati is not a new name in the Kenyan anti-terror security circles, but he has remained elusive despite efforts to locate him. The Kenyan police have been trailing him for close to a decade.
His name has featured in all the three deadliest attacks that have taken place in Kenya over the years. He is said to have joined the terror group in 2012.
In the 2019 Dusit D2 attack in Nairobi where 21 people were killed, his name featured adversely.
The police believe that he played a key role in the transportation of the fighters who participated in the attack from Somalia to Kenya.
Police also said that he played a similar role in the 2013 Westgate attack in Nairobi where 67 people were killed.
In 2015 during the Garissa University College attack, the suspect is believed to have hosted the terrorists who carried out the killings.
It is also suspected that he was among fighters who stormed Baure KDF camp in Lamu County, in June 2015 where 11 terrorists were killed by the Kenyan military.