Obama Places $5m Reward on Head of ISIS Recruit

U.S President, Barack Obama’s administration announced last night that it was offering a reward of up to $5m (£3.3m) for information leading to the location or identification of Tirad al-Jarba, better known as Abu-Muhammad al-Shimali, the head of a key Islamic State terrorist in charge of mobilizing foreign fighters in Syria.

The senior leader of the terrorist group Islamic State heads the moving of foreign fighters into Syria and processing the group’s new recruits there. The US State Department said Abu-Muhammad al-Shimali had been associated with the extremist group now known as the Islamic State since 2005, when it was an Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq.

It said he is now a leader of its immigration and logistics committee, responsible for moving foreign terrorist fighters — primarily through Gaziantep, Turkey — to Jarabulus, Syria, a border town the group controls.

The bounty note states: ‘Shimali and the Isis immigration and logistics committee coordinate smuggling activities, financial transfers, and the movement of supplies into Syria and Iraq from Europe, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

‘In 2014, Shimali facilitated the travel from Turkey to Syria of prospective Isis fighters from Australia, Europe and the Middle East, and managed Isis’s processing centre for new recruits in Azaz, Syria.’