United States adds 5 terrorist commanders to global list for 'committing atrocities in Africa'

The US State Department has designated five leaders from three terrorist groups for "committing atrocities in Africa".

Bonomade Machude Omar of the Islamic State (IS)-Mozambique; Sidan ag Hitta, Salem ould Breihmatt and Ali Mohamed Rage of the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM); and Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir of al-Shabaab have been designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under Executive Order 13224, as amended, the Department said in a statement on Friday.

According to the Department, Omar leads the Military and External Affairs Departments for IS-Mozambique and serves as the senior commander and lead coordinator for all attacks conducted by the group, as well as the lead facilitator and communications conduit.

Hitta is a senior leader and commander responsible for the Kidal region in Mali within JNIM. He was among the group responsible for the January 20, 2019, attack on the MINUSMA base in Aguelhoc, Mali.

He was also responsible for hostages in the Kidal Region, said the State Department.

Breihmatt is a JNIM senior leader and emir of Arbinda and Serma in the Mopti region of Mali. He is also charged with the oversight of the group in Burkina Faso and is an explosives expert and instructor.

Rage is al-Shabaab's spokesman and a senior leader of the group. He replaced Sheikh Mukhtar Robowas al-Shabaab`s top spokesman in May 2009.

Rage has been involved in attack planning that has targeted areas in Kenya and Somalia.

Abdikadir is a facilitator and operational planner. As of November 2019, Abdikadirwas an al-Shabaab senior leader and served as the Head of Operations and Logistics.

Taking to Twitter, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "Today, the State Department designated five leaders from IS-Mozambique, JNIM, and al-Shabaab, terrorist groups that have committed atrocities in Africa.

"The US is committed to disrupting terrorist financing, limiting their ability to conduct attacks against civilians."