FBI expands its list of wanted terrorists

The FBI has updated and revised its list of “Most Wanted Terrorists” to include 26 persons indicted by federal grand juries throughout the United States, many of whom also have State Department rewards posted for them ranging from $5 million to $25 million.

“We will continue to bring all necessary resources to bear to protect Americans from terrorist attacks,” said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. “The combined strength of law enforcement at home and abroad, with a vigilant and engaged public, will ensure success.”

The list, established a month after the September 11 attacks, is headed by Osama bin Laden, founder of al Qaeda. Added to it were:

• Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, 45, born in the Gaza Strip in the Occupied Territories and now a resident of Damascus, Syria, who is the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a designated foreign-terrorist organization. A member of the PIJ’s Shura Council, he served as executor director of the World Islam and Studies Enterprise in Tampa, Fla., and was an instructor at the University of South Florida.

• Abd Al Aziz Awda, 52, born in Gabaly, Israel, is a resident of the Gaza Strip and imam of the Al Qassam Mosque in the Gaza Strip. Awda was a founder and spiritual leader of the PIJ and also a member of the Shura Council. In January 1995, he was named by the United States as a specially designated terrorist.

• Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani, 30, Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, 38, and Jainal Antel Sali, Jr., 41, are suspected members of the terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf Group, which is responsible for the kidnapping and slaying of foreign nationals in and around the Republic of the Philippines. In June 2001, the group beheaded American national Guillermo Sobero.

• Mohammed Ali Hamadei, 41, a Lebanese citizen indicted in the United States in the hijacking of TWA flight 847 on June 14, 1985, during which U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem, 23, of Waldorf, Md., was tortured, dragged to an opened aircraft door, shot point blank in the head and tossed onto the runway. Hamadei was arrested in Germany in January 1987 and convicted in that country in 1989 of murder, hostage taking, assault and hijacking. He was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 2005 and returned to Beirut.

Abu Musab Zarqawi, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Noordin Mohammad Top have been added to the FBI’s “Seeking Information — War on Terrorism list.” Zarqawi is sought in connection with terrorist attacks and threats in Iraq. Nabhan is wanted for questioning for attacks in Kenya in 2002. Top is a suspected member of the Jemaah Islamiah group, which was involved in bombings in Indonesia between 2002 and 2004.

Zarqawi, who has been identified by U.S. authorities as the link between Iraq and the al Qaeda network, is believed to be one of bin Laden’s chief supporters. In February 2005, the interim Iraqi government issued warrants for the arrest of 29 of Zarqawi’s terrorist network,” saying they posed “a grave threat to the Iraqi people.”