TheCable

The United States (US) has offered a reward of $45 million for information on eight key leaders of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an extremist group.

According to NAN, US State Department said in Washington on Wednesday that its rewards for justice programme was also offering rewards of $10 million for information leading to the location of Nasir al-Wahishi, AQAP’s top leader, and $5 million each for the information on seven of the group’s leaders.

It accused Al-Wahishi of 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, US and other foreign interests, while the attack includes a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people at Sanaa in May 2012.

The department said more than 20 US embassies were temporarily closed in 2013 as result of a threat associated with AQAP.

AQAP was formed by Yemeni and Saudi insurgents in January 2009 under the leadership of al-Wahishi,who led AQAP’s predecessor group, Al-Qaeda, in Yemen.

On January 19, 2010, the then secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization.