The U.S. has offered a reward of 45
million dollars for information on eight key leaders of the Al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorist organisation.
The U.S. State Department said on
Wednesday in Washington that it’s Rewards for Justice Programme was also
offering rewards of 10 million dollars for information leading to the
location of Nasir al-Wahishi, AQAP’s top leader, and five million dollars each for the information on seven of the group’s leaders.
It said the Al-Wahishi was responsible
for approving AQAP targets, recruiting new members, allocating
resources, and directing the group’s operatives to conduct attacks.
It said AQAP had launched numerous
high-profile terrorist attacks against the Yemeni government, U.S. and
other foreign interests.
It said the attack includes a May 2012 suicide bombing in Sanaa, that killed more than 100 people.
The department said in 2013 more than 20 U.S embassies were temporarily closed in response to a threat associated with AQAP.
AQAP was formed in January 2009 by
Yemeni and Saudi terrorists under the leadership of al-Wahishi, who had
headed AQAP’s predecessor group Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
On January 19th 2010, the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
