The name Jehad Serwan Mostafa may not be a name most Americans know – however, he has been named the “most wanted American terrorist in the world.”
In a recent statement, US Attorney Robert Brewer confirmed:
“Mostafa is believed to be the highest-ranking United States citizen fighting overseas for a terrorist organization. Al-Shabab’s reign of terror threatens U.S. national security, our international allies, and innocent civilians.”
Although Mostafa has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terror list for many years, an unsealed federal indictment has shown that he has recently been charged with extra crimes that relate to his alleged connections with Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab in East Africa.
After fleeing the United States in 2005, Mostafa was first indicted just five years later in 2010, however, this latest indictment also covers his previous charges and claims that during the period of March 2008 and around February 2017 Mostafa “conspired to provide material support, including himself as personnel to terrorists.”
The FBI has also stated that Mostafa has become a leader in Al-Shabab’s “explosives department,” undertaking vital positions throughout the soldier training and media sections of the group.
It is thought Wisconsin-born Mostafa – also known as “Ahmed,” “Abu Anwar al-Muhajir,” “Ahmed Gurey,” and “Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir” – has been working on the improvement of the effectiveness of all IODs (improvised explosive devices) specifically created to attack US military bases and interests, according to government officials.
However sources have informed Fox News that Mostafa’s involvement is more sinister with an anonymous African intelligence official claiming:
“Currently, Jehad is in Somalia, and he is very close to the decision-making circles of Al-Shabab, especially their intelligence wing called ‘AMNIYAT’ and also an explosive brigade which is controlled by the powerful Al-Shabab leader, Mahad Warsame Qaley. Jehad is protected by Al-Shabab hardliners who are mainly connected to Al Qaeda. He directly gives advice to Al-Shabab’s leadership on issues related to strategies, international relations, smuggling explosive material and importation, media production, and its audience targeting.”
It is believed that 38 year old Mostafa has 16 children with his three wives, all of whom are receiving protection from Al-Shabab’s General Security, who are “in charge of overseas Counter-Intelligence and the presence of foreign fighters” in the group.
The source continued:
“The Middle Jubba region, which is under full control of Al-Shabab, is where intelligence agencies believe is his hideout. He is one of the most trusted foreign fighters within Al-Shabab, and gets more protection (than others) from the group.”
However the Mostafa that is around today is a surprise to those who knew him growing up, with many remembering him as sweet and subdued.
Although born in Wisconsin, Mostafa was brought up in the Serra Mesa region of San Diego, California before heading to Mesa Community College. In 2005 he graduated with an economics degree from the University of California however it is alleged that he descended into the world of jihad only a few short months later at the age of 23. Heading to Yemen in 2005 it is thought he developed friendships with Muslims from other Western countries before heading to Somalia at the invitation of Al-Shabab.
While the terrorist group was establishing their hold in the war-torn country, Mostafa allegedly became affiliated within the group before they ordered future foreign fighters not to come due to the many arrests that were being carried out, with many trying to defeat the Somalian government finding themselves under arrest.
It is not just those that watched Mostafa grow up that have expressed their surprise at his radicalization. He often prayed at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Kearny Mesa and Imam Taha Hassane expressed his surprise at Mostafa’s extremist views in 2016:
“Jehad was often hanging around with the other young people. He used to play a lot of basketball outside. I was absolutely shocked to see his picture on the news connected to terrorism.”
Although his family have never responded to requests for comments – his father Halim Mostafa Gabori passed away from a heart issue in 2018 while his mother Sumaiyah is a school teacher, and he has an older brother who works as a software engineer – a family friend reported that the family were “deeply disappointed” and the family rarely mentions him any more.
One of the most deadly organizations in the world, Al-Shabab – Arabic for “The Youth” – became an insurgent faction based on their harsh interpretation of Islam in the late 1990s although they did not join Al Qaeda until 2012. The group peaked between 2009 and 2011 when they were in control of the majority of southern and central Somalia and although they were removed from the capital in 2011 they moved towards a “more covert form of guerrilla warfare.”
Will Hartley, a terrorism and security consultant, observes that the “concern that Al-Shabab was re-establishing itself prompted a renewed US focus on the group in the latter years of the Obama administration, and that has continued under Trump.”
