The Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program announced the reward on Tuesday in exchange for information leading to the identification or location of Adan.
“Adan spent several years as al-Shabaab’s military chief after previously heading the Jabhat, al-Shabaab’s armed wing,” the statement said. The U.S. originally sanctioned Adan as a global terrorist in January 2018.
The U.S. already has $10 million bounties each on other al-Shabab leaders, including Emir Ahmed Diriye, or Abu Ubaidah; operations commander Mahad Karate and explosives expert Jehad Mostafa. Mostafa is a U.S. citizen and holds multiple roles within al-Shabab.
The U.S. designated al-Shabab as a terrorist organization in 2008. The group has been fighting to topple the Somali government for over 16 years.
Last year, the Somali government and fighters from local communities launched a military offensive to expel the group from parts of the countryside. Earlier this year, the former U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Larry Andre told VOA the group lost one-third of its territory to the government and local fighters. But since then, the group has hit back and recaptured some of the areas it lost this year.
The group has also been carrying out relentless bombings in south-central Somalia, including Monday’s suicide explosion, which a killed a prominent Somali television journalist in Mogadishu.
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