US offers $5 Mln for information on former Polisario member who became an ISIS leader

The U.S. Department of State announced Friday an offer of up to $5 million for information leading to the identification or location of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, a former member of the polisario who became the leader of the terrorist organization Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS).

ISIS-GS claimed responsibility for the October 2017 ambush of a joint U.S.-Nigerien patrol near the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. Soldiers, according to a press release by the State Department.

The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) also is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided or abetted in the commission of the 2017 ambush in Niger, the same source adds.

ISIS-GS is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and its leader, Abu Walid, has been designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, notes the release.

A former member of the so-called Sahrawi people's liberation army of the polisario, Abu Walid then joined the jihadist group Movement for unity and jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), of which he was the spokesman, during the war in Mali.