The US State Department has added a wanted Bahraini citizen who trains al Qaeda operatives to the list of wanted terrorists.
Today the US added Ahmed Abdulrahman Sihab Ahmed Sihab, who is also known as Abdulrahman al Sharqi, to the list Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Sihab "has been publicly charged with planning terrorist attacks as a member of al Qaeda," the State Department designation said.
"Sihab has trained members of al Qaeda in terrorist tactics, techniques, and procedures," the designation continued.
He is wanted by the government of Bahrain, and has an Interpol warrant out for his arrest.
US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal were reluctant to provide additional details on Sihab's role in al Qaeda, or the location of his current operations. One official described Sihab as "an extremely dangerous individual, one we would like to get our hands on."
Al Qaeda operatives are known to train members of affiliates in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, and the Sahel region in Africa. Al Qaeda trainers provide instructions for battling security forces in local insurgencies as well as knowledge, expertise, funding, and resources to conduct international attacks. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army', for more information on al Qaeda's military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.]