FBI offering $50G reward for Massachusetts man wanted for supporting Al Qaeda

A Massachusetts man who the FBI says has traveled to Yemen and Pakistan for training in how to kill American soldiers now has a $50,000 price on his head.

Ahmad Abousamra, 31, last lived in the U.S. in a tony Boston suburb and has relatives in Detroit. He left the United States in 2006 and may now be living in Aleppo, Syria, with his wife, at least one daughter and other relatives. He was indicted in 2009 for taking multiple trips to Pakistan and Yemen to seek jihad training and has been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda.

“Knowing that the public is the FBI’s best ally in finding fugitives, today we’re requesting your assistance to locate Abousamra,” said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office.

One of Abousamra’s distinguishing characteristics is his higher-pitched voice, which can be heard on the FBI’s website. He also has dual U.S. and Syrian citizenship, is fluent in English and Arabic, and has a college degree in computer technology.

“We can only assume Abousamra is still on the same path and remains a threat to our soldiers overseas.”

- Sgt. Thomas Daly, Lowell Police Department

Abousamra’s co-conspirator, Taerk Mehanna, was convicted of terrorism charges by a federal jury in December 2011. He was sentenced last year to more than 17 years in prison.

“Both men were radicalized and used the Internet to educate themselves,” said Special Agent Heidi Williams, a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Boston. “They came to it independently, but once they found each other, they encouraged each other’s beliefs.”

Both Abousamra and Mehanna were inspired by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, she said.

“They celebrated it,” Williams said.

Lowell Police Department Sgt. Thomas Daly, a member of Boston’s JTTF since 2002, said apprehending Abousamra will “close the chapter” on another alleged terrorist intent on killing American troops abroad.

Abousamra, who has dark brown hair and brown eyes, stands 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed roughly 170 pounds at the time of his disappearance. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact FBI officials at (800) CALL-FBI.

“These two were actively radicalizing others,” Daly said. “We can only assume Abousamra is still on the same path and remains a threat to our soldiers overseas.”

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Marines arrive in Yemen after embassy attack, protests spread

U.S. Marines are on the ground in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa, as the Obama administration warns of sustained protests outside diplomatic posts across the Middle East and North Africa. 

Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team is in Yemen as a "precautionary measure." 

The move comes as Reuters reports that protesters jumped over U.S. Embassy walls in both Sudan and Tunisia. Reuters reports that protesters also set fire to trees and broke windows inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis. 

A senior U.S. official, without explaining the extent of the breach in the latter attack, told Fox News that Tunisian security forces "have responded effectively" so far to the incident. 

"We're keeping a close eye on events there, but for the moment, the Tunisians are doing precisely what they should do in the face of such events," the official said. 

One official also reportedly claimed that protesters in Sudan have been expelled. Witnesses said Sudanese police opened fire on those trying to climb the walls. 

That is just a snapshot of the violent unrest playing out Friday, in the widest protests yet across the Muslim world. 

One protester was killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in clashes with security forces, after a crowd of protesters set fire to a KFC and an Arby's restaurant. Protesters hurled stones and glass at police in a furious melee that left 25 people wounded, 18 of them police. 

Security forces in Egypt and Yemen fired tear gas and clashed with protesters to keep them away from U.S. embassies. And Germany's Foreign Minister says the country's embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum has been stormed by protesters and set partially on fire. 

The intense demonstrations, purportedly by people upset over an anti-Islam film, follow warnings by the State Department that the protests could spread across the region. The department, on its Twitter account, cautioned Thursday of sustained protests in Egypt, Oman and Jordan, among other places. 

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI also issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning that the violent outrage aimed at U.S. embassies could be spread to America by extremist groups.   

In a statement to Fox News, a DHS official said that there is no specific, credible information at this time to indicate that the attacks have increased the threat of violent reaction in the U.S., but it will continue to identify potential threats and take appropriate measures. 

Four Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday. A Marine unit was dispatched earlier in the week to Tripoli, to help fortify the U.S. Embassy there in the wake of the attack in the eastern part of the country. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Protesters angry over anti-Islam film storm US Embassy in Yemen

Protesters angered by a film they consider blasphemous to Islam have stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in the most recent attack on U.S. diplomatic posts in the Middle East.

Protesters smashed windows as they breached the embassy perimeter and reached the compound grounds, although they did not enter the main building housing the offices. Angry young men brought down the U.S. flag in the courtyard, burned it and replaced it with a black banner bearing Islam's declaration of faith — "There is no God but Allah."

Yemeni security forces who rushed to the scene fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, driving them out of the compound after about 45 minutes and sealing off the surrounding streets. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was inside the embassy at the time of the attack.

Demonstrators removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall, set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.

The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington, D.C. said in a statement obtained by Fox News the government of Yemen "strongly condemns" the attack on the U.S. compound, but says the situation is under control. 

"Fortunately no casualties were reported from this chaotic incident. The government of Yemen will honor international obligations to ensure the safety of diplomats and will step up security presence around all foreign missions," the statement said. "We strongly urge all those that would wish to incite others to violence to cease immediately.

Pentagon officials tell Fox News that Pentagon and U.S. Navy officials are monitoring the situation in Yemen, but so far have received no request for military assistance there following the Embassy breach.

"We are doing everything we can to support our mission in Yemen," a senior administration official told Fox News. "We've had good cooperation from the Yemeni government which is working with us to maintain order and protect our facilities and people."

Yemen is home to Al Qaeda's most active branch and the United States is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni government's counterterrorism campaign. The government on Tuesday announced that Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader in Yemen was killed in an apparent U.S. airstrike, a major blow to the terror network.

The incident was similar to an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Tuesday night. A mob of Libyans also attacked the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Warning shots and tear gas were fired on Egyptian protesters who were clashing with police near the U.S. Embassy in the capital Cairo for the third day in a row.

The violence has raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world as anger spreads over the movie.

The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube. The video-sharing website blocked access to it Wednesday. The trailer depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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