The ISIS aligned leader who masterminded a deadly 2017 ambush of the U.S. troops in Niger has five million dollars reward bounty.
According to U.S. Department of State, Abu Walid and other militants belonging to an Islamic State affiliate believed to have gunned down four American soldiers now have $5 million bounties for any information that may lead to their capture.
A pair of $5 million bounty rewards are being offered for information leading to captures on Walid, the leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara, and the other for any of the other killers involved in the ambush.
A 12-member Army Special Forces unit was accompanying 30 Nigerien troops on a mission to capture or kill a high-level ISIS leader in West Africa on Oct. 4, 2017, when their convoy was abruptly ambushed by more than 100 extremists carrying small arms just outside the village of Tongo Tongo.
Those U.S. killed in the attack were Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Fla.; Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wa.; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga.
The State Department notes that ISIS in the Greater Sahara emerged when Walid and his followers broke away from an Al-Qaeda splinter group.
Abu Walid first proclaimed his group’s allegiance to ISIS in May 2015, and, in October 2016, ISIS acknowledged his pledge.
Operating primarily in Mali along the Mali-Niger border, ISIS in the Greater Sahara has claimed responsibility for several attacks under Abu Walid’s leadership.
