US designates 2 senior Al-Shabaab leaders

WASHINGTON

The US on Tuesday designated two senior Al-Shabaab leaders as terrorists.

Abdullahi Osman Mohamed and Maalim Ayman are listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"The U.S. is committed to degrading and defeating this dangerous al-Qa’ida affiliate" in Somalia, he wrote on Twitter, using an alternate spelling for al-Qaeda.

The State Department said Mohamed is the terror group's explosives expert in charge of "overall management of al-Shabaab’s explosives operations and manufacturing."

He is also a special adviser to the so-called “emir” of al-Shabaab and is the leader of the group’s media wing, al-Kataib.

Ayman is the leader of Jaysh Ayman, an al-Shabaab unit conducting terror attacks and operations in Kenya and Somalia, according to the US.

Ayman is responsible for preparing the January 2020 attack on Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya, that killed one US military service member and two American contractors.

Al-Shabaab was listed as a terror group in March 2008, which the US calls one of the most dangerous affiliates of al-Qaeda.

"It continues to threaten the peace, security, and stability of Somalia, as well as Kenya," said the statement.