| Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki (born Omar Shafik Hammami) | |
|---|---|
screen shot from al-Shabaab's propaganda video |
|
| Born | May 6, 1984 |
| Allegiance | Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen |
Omar Shafik Hammami (Arabic: عمر شفيق همّامي) (born May 6, 1984[1]), known by the pseudonym Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki (Arabic: أبو منصور الأمريكي), is an American member of the Somali Islamist paramilitary group al-Shabaab.
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Hammami grew up in Daphne, Alabama, a small city outside of Mobile where he graduated from Daphne High School.[2] His father was a Syrian-born Muslim, while his mother was an American Southern Baptist. Hammami began to identify as a Muslim in high school and over time grew increasingly religious, becoming a Salafi in college.[3] He dropped out of college in 2002, and in 2004 he moved to Toronto, Canada; where he married a Somali-Canadian woman.[4]
In June 2005 the couple moved to Alexandria, Egypt, where their daughter was born.[4] Through an internet forum, Hammami met Daniel Maldonado, who was also living in Egypt, and the two secretly made plans to leave for Somalia. Without telling his family, Hammami traveled to Somalia in November 2006 and apparently joined al-Shabaab soon after.
In October 2007, he appeared publicly as "Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki" for the first time, giving an interview for Al Jazeera.[3] In a January 2008 letter, Al-Amriki explained al-Shabaab’s goal to establish an Islamic caliphate “from East to West after removing the occupier and killing the apostates.”[5]
In 2007, Hammami was indicted in the Southern District of Alabama on terrorism violations. A superseding indictment was returned against Hammami in 2009 on terrorism violations for leaving the United States to join al-Shabaab. On December 13, 2007, a federal warrant for his arrest was issued by the United States District Court, Southern District of Alabama.[1]
He was featured in a 31-minute video released March 31, 2009, and in recruitment footage posted to a Somali terrorist website on April 5, 2009, saying “The only reason we are staying here, away from our families, away from the cities, away from candy bars [and] all these other things is because we are waiting to meet with the enemy…If you can encourage more of your children, and more of your neighbors, and anyone around you to send people … to this Jihad, it would be a great asset for us”.[2] In the video, al-Amriki talks about preparations for an ambush and his attempt to “try to blow up as many of their vehicles as we can and kill as many of them as we can.” After the ambush, al-Amriki praises a killed fighter.[6] American authorities have claimed that other Somali-Americans from Minnesota also appear in the video released on March 31. One of the Americans that was apparently featured in the video is Shirwa Ahmed, who was among four people to carry out suicide attacks against the United Nations compound, the Ethiopian Consulate and the presidential palace in Hargeisa.[7] The two videos indicated that he had become a prominent figure for al-Shabaab in its effort to recruit Muslims in the West to Jihad.
On July 8, 2009, an audio message from Abu Mansur al-Amriki was released on jihadi websites. Billed as a "response" to U.S. president Barack Obama's June 2009 Cairo speech to "the Muslim world," the audio message warned Muslims against being taken in by Obama's "charisma."[8] In the message, al-Amriki also affirmed al-Shabaab’s allegiance to Al Qaeda and justified the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.[7]
On April 15, 2010, another video featuring Hammami entitled "Festival For the Children of the Martyrs," appeared, showing adults and children at a community center. Hammami and others make speeches in Arabic and Hammami is shown interacting with the children and giving them toy guns.
In March 2011, Somalian government sources reported that Hammami had been killed during fighting in Mogadishu.[9][10] Somali Defense Minister Abdihakim Mohamoud Haji-Faqi subsequently told The Associated Press that Somali officials did not have a body and that the intelligence reports had not yet been confirmed.[11]
The Long War Journal reported on March 15 that Hammami had not been killed as earlier claimed by Somali's defense minister.[12] Hammami subsequently released an Anasheed song, mocking the claims of his death and taunting the United States to send Predator drones and missiles in order to make him a martyr.[13]
In July 2011 it was reported that Hammami had possibly been killed in a Predator attack in Jubba, Somalia.[14]