Office of the Spokesperson
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program is offering a reward for information on two senior al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leaders. RFJ is offering up to $6 million for information leading to the identification or location of Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki and up to $4 million for information leading to the identification or location of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi.
Al-Awlaki is the emir of Shabwah, a province in Yemen. He has publicly called for attacks against the United States and our allies. Al-Qosi, also known as Sheikh Khubayb al-Sudani and Mohammad Salah Ahmad, is part of the leadership team that assists the current “emir” of AQAP. Since 2015, he has appeared in AQAP recruiting materials and encouraged lone-wolf attacks against the United States in online propaganda. Al-Qosi was born in Sudan. He joined AQAP in 2014, but has been active in al-Qa’ida for decades and worked directly for Usama bin Laden for many years. Al-Qosi was captured in Pakistan in December 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay. He pleaded guilty in 2010 before a military commission to conspiring with al-Qa’ida and providing material support to terrorism. The United States released al-Qosi and returned him to Sudan in 2012 pursuant to a pretrial agreement.
More information about these reward offers is located on the RFJ website at www.rewardsforjustice.net. We encourage anyone with information on al-Awlaki or al-Qosi to contact the Rewards for Justice office via the website, e-mail to info@rewardsforjustice.net, or the regional security officer at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
The Rewards for Justice Program is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid in excess of $150 million to more than 100 individuals who provided information that helped bring terrorists to justice or assisted in preventing acts of international terrorism worldwide.
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