American-born Islamic militant Omar Hamami remains committed to waging jihad against US interests, he said in an interview published on Thursday, despite a $5 million bounty that Washington placed on his head.
Hamami, who has parted ways with fellow Al-Shebab militants in Somalia, told the Danger Room website that he nevertheless remains committed to armed struggle against the United States.
“I believe in attacking US interests everywhere,” he told Danger Room in a running dialogue on Twitter. “No 2nd thoughts and no turning back.”
Nicknamed “the rapping jihadist” for his work enlisting Shebab recruits through his English-language rap songs and videos, Hamami, 28, is a former resident of Alabama who moved to Somalia in 2006.
Also known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki or “the American,” Hamami late last year announced his split from the insurgents, who he says now want to kill him.
Now the most prominent American jihadi left alive, Hamami told Danger Room that he is aware “my life may be in danger” as Washington targets Islamist militants overseas, including those with US citizenship.
Tweeting from an undisclosed location in Somalia, the militant — who now spends his days online denouncing his former Islamist colleagues as corrupt — refers to himself as the “former poster boy” of the group.
He told Danger Room that he also spends his time in Somalia growing vegetables, helping his wives around the house, and trolling his former Shebab colleagues on Twitter, under the handle @abumamerican.
Born in 1984 to a Syrian Muslim immigrant father and a white Protestant mother, Hamami was raised as a Christian but began to feel estranged from his upbringing as teenager before moving to Somalia.
Hamami was indicted in 2009 by an Alabama district court for providing support to a terrorist organization, and two years later he was placed on a US Treasury blacklist freezing all his assets in the United States. In November, his name was posted on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
He and another militant, Jehad Mostafa, last month were named under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program for their ties to the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab.
He served as a military commander under Mostafa, a former resident of San Diego, California, who left for Somalia in 2005.
Source: AFP
You mean to tell me the technology of voice recognition coupled with the ease to triangulate a signal to within a few centimeters spares this individual from a predator drone?
He seems to love broadcasting his message and yet he remains a free man?
Most fascinating, If he was truly wanted by the USA he would already be a dead man. This guy is a CIA agent. Otherwise shouldn't he be saving Syria?
good point this guy and he's likes are mictry plus his story is exceptional falling out with alshabab wanted by the americans always using computer in the middle of no it makes you wander who is behind this phantom
The guy is hiding in southern swamp and forest. He can no longer melt into the population since all the major cities are under SFG/Anisom control.
These two whatever should be shoved over to Syria where their Jihadists are most needed.
That saves the US tag prizes on their heads.
Cheers.
LOOL western governments are joke they gave Al Qaeda rebels both Libya and Syria, yet they wanna place $5 million on some unknown dude's head, Al Qaeda, alshabab, Jihadist or whatever the f***ck they call themselves is the perfect scapegoat for imperialism.
Alshabab leaders let many young Somalis to die in the name of God. Many Somalis were persuaded to go to heaven. Ironically, Alshabab leaders never went to that heaven.
They took advantage of the ignorance of young illiterate that was willing to bomb humanbeing for a fruit per day. It hurts me when i think about it. Last time i read an article about a young group of rahanweyn that have joined al shebab atfer seeing an indian movie presented to them as an exclusive footage of mujahidin's heaven.
i heard all top al shabaab leaders are from issaq, darood and hawiye clan while most of the
recruit are from rahanweyn clan. Islamist take advantage from the abused minor clan's resentment toward the SFG army that mostly hail from the 2 major clan. Its an endless vicious cercle that takes it roots in the poverty of certain clan. i mean the guys are willing to be your gunmen for fruit per day wage.
May Allah alleviate our poverty and give education to the misleaded somali youth.
why infiltrating Al shabaab fighter in mogadishu when there is plenty of angry rahanweyn youth
in IDP camps ? As long there will be desperate IDP there will be gunmen roaming at night.
i think something must be done to counter wahabism in somalia. There is too much stranger trying to teach coran as if we were animal worshipper before. Those ill intentioned people are funding madrasas instead of hospital and school. Last time i was in hargeisa i went to the city's biggest masjid and there was a pakistani islamist speaking to the audience basically saying that we were all wrong on the way we practice islam. one third of the crowd immediately quit the session but the rest stayed like they were mesmerized by the beared man's speech. This is just one of the too many same scene of somali islamisation all over the horn.