11 September, 2017
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group often carries out deadly bombings in high-profile areas of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere.
He then became a member of a specialized fighting force within al Shabaab known as Jaysh Ayman that carried out attacks and raids across the border in Kenya and participated in a battle against Kenyan soldiers in the Somali town of Afmadow, prosecutors said. The group seeks to run Somalia under a strict interpretation of Shariah law.
A U.S. Africa Command spokesman, Lt. Cmdr.
A U.S. air strike killed a member of the Somali Islamist group Al Shabab in southwestern Somalia, making a total of four opponents killed this week, a statement said. He is to be sentenced January 25. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Jones pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to Al-Shabaab, one count of conspiring to receive military training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, and one count of possessing, carrying, and using a machine gun and other destructive devices during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to court documents, Jones traveled overseas in 2011 where he was trained by the terror group in Somalia on how to fire an AK-47 and rocket-propelled grenade. Al-Qaida and al-Shabab merged in 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said. He admitted he was paid $100 monthly by al-Shabab for four years, officials said.
