FBI Most Wanted Terrorists

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Banner used by the FBI since inception on October 10, 2001 as the main title for the web site pages of both the group of wanted terrorists, and also on the wanted poster of each terrorist fugitive. The three overlapping seals on the left are the seal of the U.S. Department of State (similar to the Great Seal of the United States), the seal of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's "Most Wanted Terrorists" is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal Grand Juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The list formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It originated in concept from the extant FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. It now serves as a companion to that earlier list, which in years past, had listed several major terrorist fugitives.

Since 1984, the United States government has also used the Rewards for Justice Program, which pays monetary rewards of up to $5 million, or now, in some cases more, upon special authorization by the United States Secretary of State, to individuals who provide information which substantially leads to countering of terrorist attacks against United States persons. Through 2001, $62 million had been paid to over 40 people through this program.

The Rewards for Justice Program was established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, Public Law 98-533, and is administered by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, within the U.S. Department of State.

[edit] List of initial 22 wanted terrorist fugitives

In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, President Bush released to the public this initial list on October 10, 2001 of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists. The 22 terrorists chosen by the FBI to be profiled on the list had all been earlier indicted for acts of terrorism between the years 1985 and 1998. All 22 remained fugitives from justice as of October 2001. Of the 22 fugitives, only Osama bin Laden was by then already listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

On the fugitive group wanted poster, The FBI did not list the terrorist fugitives in any particular stated order, except perhaps for the consistent placing of bin Laden in the number one position of the top row. However, the 22 fugitives can easily fit into distinct categories of terrorist attacks over the two decades, based on each fugitive's indictment history. For organization and ease of reference here, the relevant major terrorist attacks are listed by date below, with a brief summary for each, identifying the terror cells most directly responsible for the attack. The 22 fugitives on the list are then grouped beneath the attack for which each terrorist was first indicted:

[edit] Indicted 1985 TWA 847 fugitives (total listed: 3)

[edit] Imad Mugniyah

Imad Mugniyah
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Hassan Izz-Al-Din

Hassan Izz-Al-Din
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At Large

[edit] Ali Atwa

Ali Atwa
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large.

[edit] Indicted 1993 Manhattan WTC fugitives (total listed: 1)

[edit] Abdul Rahman Yasin

Abdul Rahman Yasin
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large
special note: was allegedly a prisoner of Saddam Hussein in 2002, but has since gone missing from Iraq

[edit] Indicted 1995 Bojinka fugitives (total listed: 1)

[edit] Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003; no longer listed as of February 23, 2006

[edit] Indicted 1996 Khobar fugitives (total listed: 4)

[edit] Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Mughassil

Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Mughassil
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie

Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub

Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser

Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Indicted 1998 embassy fugitives (total listed: 13)

[edit] Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Muhammad Atef

Muhammad Atef
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: Killed in Afghanistan on November 14, 2001 by a Predator missile attack on his home outside of Kabul; no longer listed as of February 23, 2006

[edit] Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Fazul Abdullah Mohammed

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: Killed in Somalia, January 8th, 2007, by an AC-130 gunship attack led by the cooperation of U.S. and Ethiopian forces^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil

Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: General consensus among terrorism experts is he was captured in Pakistan in 2004, although there has been no confirmation or denial. Removed from the list February 23, 2006.

[edit] Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam

Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: Captured in Pakistan on July 25, 2004; no longer listed as of February 23, 2006

[edit] Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan

Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: Captured in Pakistan in 2002 according to Amnesty International, but still remains on the list as of February 22, 2007^[2][1]

[edit] Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Anas Al-Liby

Anas Al-Liby
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Saif Al-Adel

Saif Al-Adel
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: - Unknown. Rumored to have been arrested in Iran.

[edit] Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali

Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: At large

[edit] Mushin Musa Matwalli Atwah

Mushin Musa Matwalli Atwah
Listed date: October 10, 2001
Status: killed April 12, 2006 along with 6 other militants by Pakistani forces in a helicopter gunship raid on the village of Naghar Kalai near the Afghan border. Villagers reported that armed men removed the bodies.^[3]; was removed from the list by October 20, 2006; Atwah's death was confirmed by US officials on October 24, 2006, following DNA testing.^[4]

[edit] Additions to the list

[edit] Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list

Whereas the Most Wanted Terrorists list is reserved for terrorist fugitives who have been indicted by federal grand juries, the FBI recognized a further need to achieve a much quicker response time in order to prevent any future attacks which may be in the current planning stages. To enlist the public's help in this effort, the FBI sought a way to deliver the early known suspected terror attack information, often very limited, out to the public as quickly as possible. So, on January 17, 2002, the third major FBI wanted list was first released, which has now become known as the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list.

As the name of this list implies, the FBI's intent is to acquire any critical information from the public, as soon as possible, about the suspected terrorists, who may be in the planning stages of terror attacks against United States nationals at home and abroad. The first such list profiled five terrorists about whom little was known, but who were suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. The main evidence against the five was five videos they had produced, as found in the rubble of Muhammad Atef's destroyed home outside Kabul, Afghanistan.

By 2006, more than four years had passed since the FBI had listed the original 22 terrorist fugitives on the Most Wanted Terrorist list. Of those 22, by then four had been qualified for removal from the list, due to death or capture. Also by then, some new high profile terrorists had qualified to be listed as Most Wanted Terrorists under FBI guidelines. Some of these new fugitives were wanted for indictments in attacks and plots that had taken place since the original list had been compiled. The original indictments had been for incidents only through 1998. But since then, the U.S. had become victim to at least two major terror attacks, which would generate some of the new indictments for the Most Wanted Terrorists, notably:

• the 2000 USS Cole bombing, which killed 17 American sailors and wounded 40 on October 12, 2000 off the port coast of Aden, Yemen
• the September 11, 2001 attacks in Manhattan, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania

In addition, after the original 2001 list had been compiled and released to the public, the U.S. had foiled and issued indictments for numerous other plots, involving some new listed Most Wanted Terrorists. Those notable other plots involved:^[5]

• the Buffalo, New York cell Buffalo Six, or Lackawanna Cell, exposed September 2002
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad, on RICO charges for plots based from Syria since 1995
• Abu Sayyaf Group kidnappings and murders of foreign nationals in the Philippines

So in February 2006, the FBI completed two groups of additions to the Most Wanted Terrorists list, the first such additions in over four years. Fugitives who were added to the list are grouped below by the date on which each terrorist was first listed, with a brief note of the attack or plot for which they were indicted:

[edit] Additions February 23, 2006 (total listed: 2)

[edit] Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi

Jamal al-Bedawi
Listed date: February 23, 2006
Indicted for: 2000 Cole bombing
Status: at large

[edit] Jaber A. Elbaneh

Jaber A. Elbaneh
Listed date: February 23, 2006
Indicted for: Buffalo Six material support to al-Qaeda
Status: at large

[edit] Additions February 24, 2006 (total listed: 6)

The very next day, on February 24, 2006, the FBI added an additional six fugitive terrorists to the list, for various plots and attacks. One of the entries was for an indictment dating all the way back to the June 14, 1985, hijacking of TWA flight 847 by Hezbollah (see above). In addition, the FBI also added to the Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list an additional three persons - most notably, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.^[6] This marked the first time that al-Zarqawi had appeared on any of the three major FBI wanted lists. On June 08, 2006, ABCNEWS reported that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was confirmed to have been killed in Baghdad in a bombing raid by a United States task force. His death was confirmed by multiple sources in Iraq, including the United States government. Al-Zarqawi has often been confused with Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is one of the original FBI Most Wanted Terrorists on the list since 2001.

The six fugitives added to the Most Wanted Terrorists list were:

[edit] Mohammed Ali Hamadei

Mohammed Ali Hammadi
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: 1985 TWA Flight 847 skyjacking and murder
Status: at large

[edit] Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah

Sheikh Abdullah Ramadan Shallah
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: RICO activity of Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Status: at large

[edit] Abd Al Aziz Awda

Abd Al Aziz Awda
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: RICO activity of Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Status: at large

[edit] Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani

Khadaffy Janjalani
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: Abu Sayyaf kidnaps & murders in the Philippines
Status: Died of gunshot wounds on September 4, 2006. Philippine marines found the remains of his body on December 27, 2006. Death was confirmed by DNA testing on January 20, 2007^[7] Listed as deceased as of January 22, 2007. Removed from list as of February 21.

[edit] Isnilon Totoni Hapilon

Isnilon Totoni Hapilon
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: Abu Sayyaf kidnaps & murders in the Philippines
Status: at large

[edit] Jainal Antel Sali, Jr.

Jainal Antel Sali, Jr.
Listed date: February 24, 2006
Indicted for: Abu Sayyaf kidnaps & murders in the Philippines
Status: Killed January 16th, 2007, by Philippine Special Forces. Listed as deceased as of January 22, 2007. Removed from list as of February 21.

[edit] Addition October 11, 2006 (total listed: 1)

On October 11, 2006 Adam Gadahn was removed by the FBI from the Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list, and placed instead on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.^[8] Also, on October 11, 2006, Gadahn was indicted on a treason charge by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California making him the first American charged with treason since 1952.^[9]

[edit] Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Listed date: October 11, 2006
Indicted for: treason
Status: at large

[edit] See also

• Terrorism
• Terrorist incidents
• War on Terrorism
• Weapons of mass destruction

[edit] Captured al-Qaeda Terrorists

• Abu Faraj al-Libbi Captured in Pakistan
• Abu Zubaydah Captured in Pakistan
• Abdur Rahman Captured in
• Mustafa Setmariam Nasar Captured in Pakistan
• Abu Musab al-Suri Captured in Pakistan

[edit] References

1. ^ official prepared statement of Steven Emerson before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information, on February 24, 1998, Federal Information Systems Corporation, Federal News Service, as downloaded from the Library of Congress, 1998, Made available 4/5/98
2. ^ http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa330342002
3. ^ Pakistan: Al-Qaeda militant killed near border, Associated Press, USA Today, Updated 4/13/2006 1:54 PM ET
4. ^ One of FBI's 'Most Wanted Terrorists' confirmed dead, CNN.com, October 24, 2006
5. ^ Recent Escapees From Yemen Prison Added to Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information - War on Terrorism Lists, FBI national Press Release, February 23, 2006
6. ^ FBI Updates Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information – War on Terrorism Lists, FBI national Press Release, February 24, 2006
7. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2809887
8. ^ American Al-Qaeda Member Gadahn Charged With Treason by U.S., Bloomberg, By Robert Schmidt, Oct. 11, 2006
9. ^ American Al Qaeda Member to Be Indicted for Treason, Fox News, October 12, 2006

[edit] External links

• Rewards for Justice
• FBI Most Wanted Terrorists currently listed page
• Report a Tip Capturing America's Fugitves
• AMW.com America's Most Wanted