Zeenews Bureau
Mogadishu: Days after the Obama administration announced to offer up to USD 33 million in rewards for information about top members of an Islamist extremist group in Somalia linked to al Qaeda, the al-Shabab militia movement has made a counter-proposal.
The group has offered a bounty of 10 camels for US President Barack Obama.
On a propagandist website, Fuad Muhammad Khalaf of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia posted: "I can assure you that these kind of things (US bounties) will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them.”
"Whoever reveals the hideout of the idiot Obama will be rewarded with 10 camels, and whoever reveals the hideout of the old woman Hillary Clinton will be rewarded 10 chickens and 10 roosters," he said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant organisations.
On Thursday, the State Department announced the rewards for seven leaders of the al-Shabab militia movement.
The bounties will be administered by the department`s Rewards for Justice program.
It is the first time the program has offered rewards for members of al-Shabab, which is accused of terrorist attacks in Somalia, Uganda and Kenya.
The program offers up to USD 7 million for al-Shabab`s founder, Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed; up to USD 5 million each for his associates, Ibrahim Haji Jama, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, Bashir Mohamed Mahamoud and Mukhtar Robow; and up to USD 3 million for Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi and Abdullahi Yare, according to the officials.
Al-Shabab and al Qaeda formally joined organisations earlier this year, though the ties between the groups already were strong. Al-Shabab counts hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks, including fighters with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
(With Agency inputs)
