<p>The United States announced Thursday it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for a man described as the "terror mastermind" of a bloody hotel attack in Kenya four years ago.</p>.<p>It said it is seeking information on Mohamoud Abdi Aden, describing him as a leader of the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab jihadist group that has carried out several deadly attacks in neighbouring Kenya.</p>.<p>The Al-Qaeda affiliated group claimed responsibility for the January 15, 2019 siege on the upmarket DusitD2 hotel compound in the Kenyan capital Nairobi that lasted almost 20 hours.</p>.<p>At least 21 people lost their lives, including a US citizen, and many more were injured. Kenya said at the time that all the assailants had been eliminated.</p>.<p>"Mohamoud Abdi Aden, an Al-Shabaab leader, was part of the cell that planned the DusitD2 hotel attack," the US ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, told reporters in Nairobi.</p>.<p>She said the US was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Aden, described by the embassy as a Kenyan national, and others accused of involvement in the hotel siege.</p>.<p>The head of Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Amin Mohamed Ibrahim, described Aden as the "terror mastermind" behind the carnage.</p>.<p>The State Department designated Aden a "specially designated global terrorist" in October last year.</p>.<p>Al-Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the Islamist militant group.</p>.<p>In 2013, Al-Shabaab laid siege to the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi for four days, leaving 67 people dead.</p>.<p>In 2015, an attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenya killed 148 people, almost all of them students. Many were shot at point blank range after being identified as Christians.</p>.<p>It was the second bloodiest attack in Kenya's history, surpassed only by Al-Qaeda's bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 that killed 213 people.</p>.<p>Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia's fragile central government for 15 years, has been designated a terrorist group by the US since 2008.</p>.<p>In November, Washington said it was increasing its reward to up to $10 million apiece for key Al-Shabaab leaders including "emir" Ahmed Diriye.</p>
<p>The United States announced Thursday it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for a man described as the "terror mastermind" of a bloody hotel attack in Kenya four years ago.</p>.<p>It said it is seeking information on Mohamoud Abdi Aden, describing him as a leader of the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab jihadist group that has carried out several deadly attacks in neighbouring Kenya.</p>.<p>The Al-Qaeda affiliated group claimed responsibility for the January 15, 2019 siege on the upmarket DusitD2 hotel compound in the Kenyan capital Nairobi that lasted almost 20 hours.</p>.<p>At least 21 people lost their lives, including a US citizen, and many more were injured. Kenya said at the time that all the assailants had been eliminated.</p>.<p>"Mohamoud Abdi Aden, an Al-Shabaab leader, was part of the cell that planned the DusitD2 hotel attack," the US ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, told reporters in Nairobi.</p>.<p>She said the US was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Aden, described by the embassy as a Kenyan national, and others accused of involvement in the hotel siege.</p>.<p>The head of Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Amin Mohamed Ibrahim, described Aden as the "terror mastermind" behind the carnage.</p>.<p>The State Department designated Aden a "specially designated global terrorist" in October last year.</p>.<p>Al-Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the Islamist militant group.</p>.<p>In 2013, Al-Shabaab laid siege to the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi for four days, leaving 67 people dead.</p>.<p>In 2015, an attack on Garissa University in eastern Kenya killed 148 people, almost all of them students. Many were shot at point blank range after being identified as Christians.</p>.<p>It was the second bloodiest attack in Kenya's history, surpassed only by Al-Qaeda's bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 that killed 213 people.</p>.<p>Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia's fragile central government for 15 years, has been designated a terrorist group by the US since 2008.</p>.<p>In November, Washington said it was increasing its reward to up to $10 million apiece for key Al-Shabaab leaders including "emir" Ahmed Diriye.</p>