Index
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
October 10, 2001

Fact Sheet
The List of Most Wanted Terrorists

The  President today will join Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State  Colin  Powell  and  FBI  Director Robert Mueller in announcing a new joint  program  to heighten global awareness of America's efforts to locate known terrorists and bring them to justice.

The  new  program  will be managed jointly by the Department of Justice and the  State Department.  The FBI portion of the program will be known as the list  of  "Most  Wanted  Terrorists." The  State  Department facet of the program  will  be  managed  through  the  department's  Rewards for Justice Program.

As  part  of today's announcement, the Bush Administration will identify 22 known  terrorists  that  have  been  placed  on  the  list  of "Most Wanted Terrorists."

                  The List of "Most Wanted Terrorists"

                        WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING

                            February 26, 1993

              Indicted in the Southern District of New York

On February 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the underground parking garage of the World Trade center in New York City, killing six persons and injuring hundreds.  The following defendant is included in the Indictment returned in the Southern District of New York:

-   Abdul Rahman Yasin

            PLOT TO BOMB AIRCRAFT IN THE FAR EAST (MANILA AIR)

                              January, 1995

              Indicted in the Southern District of New York

In January, 1995, the United States learned of a plot based in Manila to bomb 12 commercial jumbo jets of United States carriers flying Asian-Pacific routes.  In December, 1994, the conspirators had engaged in a test on a Phillippines airliner using only about 10 percent of the explosives that were to be used in each of the bombs to be planted on United States airliners.  The test resulted in the death of a Japanese national on board a flight from the Phillippines to Japan.  The following defendant is included in the Indictment returned in the Southern District of New York:

-   Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

                          KHOBAR TOWERS BOMBING

                              June 25, 1996

              Indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia

On June 25, 1996, an explosive device contained within a mid-sized tanker truck detonated outside the perimeter of the Khobar Towers military housing complex in Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The explosion killed 19 United States Air Force personnel, wounded 280 persons, and severely damaged several military facilities in the complex.  The following defendants are included in the Indictment returned in the Eastern District of Virginia:

-   Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Mughassil
-  Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Houri
-   Ibrahim Salih Mohammed Al-Yacoub
-   Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser

       THE BOMBINGS OF UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA

                              August 7, 1998

On August 7, 1998, bombs contained with large motor vehicles were detonated outside the United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Eleven United States nationals were killed in Nairobi;  there were heavy casualties among Kenyan civilians and some foreign service nationals employed by the United States Embassy.   In Dar ed Salaam, no United States nationals were killed but four were injured;  several foreign service nationals who worked at that Embassy were killed.   The following defendants are included in the Indictment returned by the Southern District of New York:

-   Usama Bin Laden
-   Muhammad Atef
-   Ayman Al-Zawahiri
-   Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
-   Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil
-   Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam
-   Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
-   Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan
-   Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah
-   Anas Al-Liby
-   Saif Al-Adel
-   Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali
-   Mushin Musa Matwalli Atwah

                          HIJACKING OF TWA 847

                              June 14, 1985

                  Indicted in the District of Columbia

On June 14, 1985, TWA 847 was hijacked while enroute from Athens, Greece to Rome,  Italy.   U.S.  Navy  Diver  Robert Stethem was brutally tortured and murdered  during  the  hijacking,  his  body dumped on the tarmac of Beirut International  Airport.   The  following  defendants  are  included  in the Indictment returned in the District of Columbia.

-   Imad Mugniyah
-  Hassan Izz-Al-Din
-   Ali Atwa

            The State Department's Rewards for Justice Program

The  Rewards for Justice Program is a formidable weapon in the U.S. arsenal for  combating  international  terrorism.   Established  by the 1984 Act to Combat   International   Terrorism,  Public  Law  98-533,  the  Program  is administered  by  the  U.S.  Department  of  State's  Bureau  of Diplomatic Security.

Under  this  program,  the Secretary of State may offer rewards of up to $5 million  for  information  that prevents, frustrates, or favorably resolves acts  of  international terrorism against U.S. interests worldwide or leads to  the  arrest  or  conviction  in  any  country  of an individual for the commission  of  such  an  act.   Rewards  may  also be paid for information leading  to  the  arrest  or  conviction  of  any  individual conspiring or attempting  to  commit  such  a terrorist act, or aiding or abetting in the commission of such an act.

The  Rewards  for  Justice  Program has been an effective tool in the fight against  international  terrorism.   In  the  past  seven years, the United States  has  paid  over $8 million in 22 cases to individuals who have come forward  with  credible  information  that  puts  terrorists behind bars or prevents acts of international terrorism worldwide.

The  program  played  a  significant  role  in  the arrest of international terrorist  Ramzi  Yousef,  whose capture is perhaps the textbook example of the  effectiveness  of the program.  Yousef came to the United States prior to  the bombing of the World Trade Center to coordinate the manufacture and placement  of  the bomb.  He left the United States about the same time the bomb  exploded,  but  his  terrorist  planning  didn't  stop there.  Yousef allegedly  made  arrangements  to simultaneously blow up 12 U.S. commercial airliners as they flew over the Pacific Ocean.

Using pictures and identifiers, the State Department flooded the world with posters,  matchbooks,  flyers,  and  newspaper  ads  with information about Yousef  and his role in the World Trade Center bombing.  A little less than two  years  later,  an informant appeared with one of our reward offers and pinpointed  Yousef's  location  in  Pakistan.   Yousef was arrested shortly thereafter.

People  with  information  on  the  September  11th  attacks or any past or planned  act of international terrorism against the United States are urged to  contact the FBI or the Bureau of Diplomatic Security via any one of the following avenues:

Internet:     www.dssrewards.net or www.ifccfbi.gov E-mail:       mail@dssrewards.net Telephone:    1-800-437-6371 (U.S. only) or 1-866-483-5137 Mail:         Rewards for Justice

         P.O. Box 96781

         Washington, DC 20090-6781  USA

In  addition,  people  located  overseas  may contact the Regional Security Officer at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

Terrorism  threatens  the  security of all people, and our determination to fight it is greater than ever.  Through the Rewards for Justice Program, we have  tracked  terrorists  aggressively and made them pay for their crimes. Thousands  of  innocent  lives around the world have been saved through the prevention  of terrorist attacks.  Without question, this program is one of the  most  valuable  assets  the  U.S.  Government has in the fight against international terrorism.