U.S. Offers Reward for Jihadist who Urged Attacks over Jerusalem
The United States on Thursday offered a $5 million reward to find al-Qaida leader Khalid Batarfi, who urged worldwide attacks on Jews and Americans after Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The Saudi-born Batarfi is a veteran of the jihadist fighters who backed the Taliban in Afghanistan and has become a senior leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which the United States considers the global network's deadliest branch.
In a video released in January, Batarfi called President Donald Trump's precedent-breaking declaration on Jerusalem "a declaration of a new Jewish-Crusader war" and called on Muslims to "rise and attack the Jews and the Americans everywhere."
The U.S. State Department said it was offering $5 million to anyone who could lead authorities to Batarfi or contribute to his arrest or prosecution.
The United States also raised from $5 million to $10 million the reward offered for Qasim al-Rimi, considered the emir of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
He is already under U.S. and U.N. sanctions after being linked to a deadly 2008 attack outside the U.S. embassy in Yemen and for his alleged support to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas Day in 2009.
Formed by the 2009 merger of al-Qaida's Saudi and Yemen operations, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has carved out its own territory in war-battered Yemen despite being frequently targeted by U.S. drones.
Source: Agence France Presse
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