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US State Department designates five al-Shabaab leaders as terrorists

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said countering one of Al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliates “remains a shared priority with the Somali government.”

Antony Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels on March 4, 2022. Credit: Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock.

Maxamed Siidow, Cali Yare, Maxamed Dauud Gabaane, Suleiman Cabdi Daoud and Mohamed Omar Mohamed—all influential leaders of al-Shabaab, a terror group based in Somalia—have now been labeled Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 by the U.S. State Department.

Referring to al-Shabaab, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that countering one of Al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliates, “which has killed thousands of people, including Americans, in Somalia and across East Africa, remains a shared priority with the Somali government.”

Al-Shabaab was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department in March 2008.

Four of the individuals listed are finance emirs for the terrorist organization. Siidow also commands Jabha, al-Shabaab’s militant wing.

Mohamed, the only one named not focused on finance, has reportedly led attacks against civilians. Other al-Shabaab financiers, smugglers and associated companies have also been sanctioned.

U.S. citizens are now forbidden from making transactions with these five individuals.

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