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$10m US bounty on Pakistani

April 3, 2012

The US has offered a reward for information leading to the conviction of a leading Pakistani figure thought to have masterminded the Mumbai attacks in 2008. India welcomed the move to try to capture Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

https://p.dw.com/p/14WsW
In this Jan. 4, 2011 photo, Hafiz Saeed, the leader of a banned Islamic group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an alias of the proscribed Lashkar -e-Taiba terror group, addresses rally against India and United States in Lahore, Pakistan. Created by Pakistan to wage a proxy war against India, the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group has moved its jihad onto the global stage and could match al-Qaida in strength and organization, according to officials, experts and group members. (Foto:K.M.Chaudary/AP/dapd)
Image: AP

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on Monday welcomed Washington's decision to place a bounty of $10 million (7.5 million euros) on Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. Saeed founded the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which India blames for the terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008, in the 1980s.

Krishna said that the bounty "reflects the commitment of India and the US to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice and continuing efforts to combat terrorism."

The bounty placed on Saeed is now the same size as the one against Taliban founder Mullah Omar.

The US also announced a $2-million reward for information leading to the capture of Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and co-founder of the LeT.

The US State Department website describes Saeed as a former professor of Arabic and engineering who heads an organization "dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan."

Under pressure from the US, Pakistani authorities outlawed the LeT in 2002, but it still operates with relative freedom within the country, with Saeed often speaking in public and appearing on television talk shows.

Saeed was arrested by Pakistani authorities after the three-day terrorist siege of Mumbai in 2008, but was later released due to a lack of evidence. At least 166 people were killed in the Mumbai attacks.

msh/ipj (AP, dpa)