DID Press: US Department of State, under its “Rewards for Justice” program, announced a total of $15 million in rewards for information leading to two senior figures of Al-Qaeda’s South Asia branch: Usama Mahmood and Atif Yahya Ghori.
The U.S. aims to increase pressure on Al-Qaeda leadership in the region by offering $10 million for information on Usama Mahmood, the head of the South Asia branch, and $5 million for his deputy, Atif Yahya Ghori.
According to the State Department, Usama Mahmood, a Pakistani national, has long played a central role in Al-Qaeda’s operational network in the region and is believed to currently reside in Afghanistan. Both leaders are said to direct and coordinate terrorist operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar.
The South Asia branch of Al-Qaeda was established in 2014 under the directive of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Mahmood initially served as deputy to Asim Umar, the branch’s first leader, and assumed leadership after Umar was transferred to Al-Qaeda’s central command.
This branch has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks, including a machete attack on an American-Bangladeshi couple in Dhaka in February 2015 and the killing of a U.S. Agency for International Development employee and her companion in April 2016.
Atif Yahya Ghori, born in Islamabad and a graduate of the International Islamic University, was appointed deputy following the killing of Ahmed Farooq in a U.S. drone strike in January 2015.
The U.S. Department of State urges anyone with credible information about the activities, whereabouts, or networks of these two Al-Qaeda leaders to contact the “Rewards for Justice” program to claim the offered reward.