US State Department Offers $10 Million for Information on Al-Shabaab Leader Behind 2020 Terror Attack in Kenya

Al-Shabaab terroritsts march with their weapons during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Feb. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)

The U.S. Department of State is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the 2020 terrorist attack at the Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya, which killed three Americans.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group, al-Shabaab, carried out the attack on Jan. 5 at the airfield, which is part of a Kenyan Defence Forces military base used by U.S. forces to provide training and counter-terrorism support for its East African partners.

U.S. Army Specialist Henry Mayfield Jr. and two U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contractors, Bruce Triplett and Dustin Harrison, were killed in the attack. Two other U.S. service members and a third DoD contractor, as well as a Kenyan soldier, were also injured.

The attack also destroyed six U.S. aircraft, one aircraft owned by the Kenyans, and several vehicles.

Al-Shabaab subsequently released a video claiming responsibility for the attack.

Specially Designated Global Terrorist

The state department said in a press release on Jan. 5 that it is offering the reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Maalim Ayman, the leader of an al-Shabaab unit that has conducted terror attacks in Kenya and Somalia, or any individual who is connected to the 2020 attack.

Ayman was responsible for preparing the 2020 attack, according to the state department, which designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in November of that same year.

Separately, al-Shabaab has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) since March 2008.

Map showing the approximate location of the terror attack in Kenya'sLamu County. The U.S. military said Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab terrorists attacked Manda Bay Airfield in Lamu County, Kenya, on Jan. 5, 2020. (OpenStreetMaps)

“Based in East Africa, al-Shabaab is one of al-Qaida’s most dangerous affiliates and is responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Kenya, Somalia, and neighboring countries that have killed thousands of people, including U.S. citizens,” the department said.

“The terrorist group continues to plot, plan, and conspire to commit terrorist acts against the United States, U.S. interests, and foreign partners.”

The reward is being offered through the department’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program.

Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in Kenya, including the 2019 storming of a luxury hotel in the capital city of Nairobi that killed 21 people. The terrorist group is also responsible for the 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, which killed at least 67 people during a four-day siege.

In 2015, the group killed 148 people during an attack on Kenya’s Garissa University. The group singled out Christian students at the university amid the shooting, which marked the second deadliest in Kenyan history.

Paramedics help a student who was injured during an attack by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab terrorists on the Garissa University campus, Kenya, on April 2, 2015. (Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images)

Nearly two years after the attack on the Manda Bay Airfield, the Pentagon released its findings stemming from an independent investigation into the incident.

While the investigation found “no single point of failure for the loss of life or property damage” at the airbase during the incident— which reportedly led to the destruction of nearly $71.5 million worth of U.S. government property—it did identify multiple personnel who were allegedly “negligent in their actions or inactions, which contributed to creating a vulnerable airfield.”

According to Army Gen. Steve Townsend, the U.S. Africom commander who directed the investigation, complacent leadership and command and control at the tactical level, an inadequate understanding of the true threat to the facility, deficiencies in the organization, preparation and training of security forces and problems with mission command were all to blame for the terrorist group’s assault.

“We were not as prepared at Manda Bay as we needed to be,” Townsend said. “Security on a key part of the base proved inadequate, with a security force that was insufficiently prepared for their mission.”