The leader of the Somali jihadist group Shebab is behind an attack that claimed the lives of several Americans two years ago in Kenya.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
$10 million. This is the amount of the reward promised for any information that would lead to the arrest or conviction, in any country, of Maalim Ayman or his accomplices. Two years to the day after the attack on Manda Bay Air Base in Kenya, the US State Department has not forgotten. Maalim Ayman is the leader of Jayish Ayman, a Shebab unit that prepares and conducts terrorist operations in Somalia and Kenya. Very autonomous, it is made up of fighters of various origins: foreigners, Kenyans of Somali origin or even Somalis who also have Kenyan nationality.
On January 5, 2020, before dawn, several Shebab fighters attacked the area of the Simba base, located in Manda Bay, in eastern Kenya. Camp Simba is one of several military bases created by the United States around the world after the attacks of September 11, 2001. It is dedicated to monitoring southern Somalia and the Kenyan coasts. It accommodates a hundred American soldiers. Terrorists aim a rocket launcher at a twin-engine aircraft in which two US Department of Defense contractors are killed. An American soldier is also killed in the firefight that follows, as well as several Kenyan soldiers who responded to the attack.
It was the first time that Shebabs targeted American soldiers in Kenya. The attack was claimed by Islamist group. Since its inception in 1984, the US “Rewards for Justice” program has paid out $250 million to 125 people who provided information that could be used against those targeted.