State Department Offering $45 Million in Rewards for Information on Terrorist Leaders - East Idaho News
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State Department Offering $45 Million in Rewards for Information on Terrorist Leaders

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Getty 101414 StateDepartment?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1413341436927Hisham Ibrahim/Photographer’s Choice RF/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. State Department announced rewards totaling up to $45 million for information leading to the capture of eight key leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a known terrorist organization.

The Department of State authorized a $10 million reward for information that helps them capture Nasir al-Wahishi, the “top leader” of AQAP. According to a State Department press release, al-Wahishi is responsible for “approving AQAP targets, recruiting new members, allocating resources and directing AQAP operatives to conduct attacks.” An additional $5 million each in rewards were authorized for information that aids in the capture of seven other AQAP leaders.

The State Department named Qasim al-Rimi, Othman al-Ghamdi, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, Shawki Ali Ahmed Al-Badani, Jalal Bala’idi, Ibrahim al-Rubaysh and Ibrahim al-Banna as the seven other leaders for whom rewards were offered.

AQAP was formed in January 2009, according to the State Department, by al-Wahishi, who had previously led the organization’s predecessor group — al-Qaeda in Yemen. The organization has since been involved in numerous terrorist attacks against the Yemeni government, the U.S. and other foreign interests, and was named a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in January 2010. Most recently, AQAP threats closed over 20 U.S. embassies in 2013.

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