BOSTON — A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a Massachusetts man who is wanted on terrorism charges, the FBI said Wednesday.
The FBI said it is seeking the public’s help in locating Ahmad Abousamra, a U.S. citizen from Mansfield who authorities believe may be living in the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo with at least one child, a daughter, and extended family. He uses several aliases.
Abousamra, now 31, fled the United States in 2006, shortly after being interviewed by the FBI.
The FBI says Abousamra is an associate of Tarek Mehanna, a Sudbury man convicted on four terrorism charges and sentenced this year to 17½ years in prison.
Abousamra was indicted in 2009 after taking multiple trips to Pakistan and Yemen, where he attempted to obtain military training for the purpose of killing American soldiers overseas, the FBI said. He also traveled to Iraq in the hope of joining forces fighting against the United States, but the exact nature of his activities there is unknown, the FBI said.
Prosecutors said during Mehanna’s trial that Mehanna and Abousamra had failed to find a terrorist training camp.
The FBI said it will use traditional media and social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as its website to make photos, an audio clip of Abousamra’s voice and wanted posters in English, French and Arabic available to the public.
Abousamra was born in France, is of Syrian descent and has dual citizenship in the United States and Syria. He speaks, reads and writes fluently in English and Arabic, and has a college degree related to computer technology.
