The following year he was listed by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and currently offers up to 10 million USD for information regarding him.

[2] He is believed to be in his fifties and is a member of the Bijamal subclan of the Dir clan from the Kismayo region of Somalia.

By 2013, he was a senior adviser to Godane and served in al-Shabaab's "Interior Department," where he oversaw the group's domestic activity.

According to the U.S. State Department, he shares Godane's vision for al-Shabaab's terrorist attacks in Somalia as an element of al-Qa’ida's greater global aspirations.

He called for the removal of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and other regional leaders, accusing them of welcoming Ethiopia in Mogadishu, Baidoa, Garowe, and Hargeisa.