The
United States has offered $20m for information on four senior members
of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the State
Department has said.
A statement released on Tuesday said that the US Secretary of State John Kerry had authorised payments for intelligence on Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili and Tariq Bin-al-Tahar Bin al Falih al-'Awni al-Harzi.
Kerry offered a $5m reward each for
information on Adnani, the group's spokeman, and Batirashvili, also know
as Omar al-Shishani, the group's military commander.
Qaduli, a senior leader of the group, and an early follower of the founder of the group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, attracted a $7m award for information on his whereabouts. He served as the group's chief in Mosul during the US occupation of Iraq, when the group went by the name al-Qaeda in Iraq.
© AP Photo/militant social media account via AP video
This image made from undated video posted during the weekend of June
28, 2014, on a social media account frequently used for communications
by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)…
The US is also offering $3m for information on Harzi, a Tunisian
national, who has been accused of being a financier for the group, which
has conducted dozens of bomb attacks and mass killings in Iraq and
Syria.
The US has already offered a $10m reward for information about the group's leader, and self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
ISIL captured huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria during a campaign in 2014, bringing it into conflict against the Syrian and Iraqi government, as well as Syrian rebel factions.
The group's advances in Iraq led to a US-led coalition air campaign against ISIL positions in both Iraq and Syria.
The group has abducted and executed a number of US hostages, including US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Abdul Rahman (Peter) Kassig.
A statement released on Tuesday said that the US Secretary of State John Kerry had authorised payments for intelligence on Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili and Tariq Bin-al-Tahar Bin al Falih al-'Awni al-Harzi.
Kerry offered a $5m reward each for
information on Adnani, the group's spokeman, and Batirashvili, also know
as Omar al-Shishani, the group's military commander.Qaduli, a senior leader of the group, and an early follower of the founder of the group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, attracted a $7m award for information on his whereabouts. He served as the group's chief in Mosul during the US occupation of Iraq, when the group went by the name al-Qaeda in Iraq.
© AP Photo/militant social media account via AP video
This image made from undated video posted during the weekend of June
28, 2014, on a social media account frequently used for communications
by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)…
The US is also offering $3m for information on Harzi, a Tunisian
national, who has been accused of being a financier for the group, which
has conducted dozens of bomb attacks and mass killings in Iraq and
Syria.The US has already offered a $10m reward for information about the group's leader, and self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
ISIL captured huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria during a campaign in 2014, bringing it into conflict against the Syrian and Iraqi government, as well as Syrian rebel factions.
The group's advances in Iraq led to a US-led coalition air campaign against ISIL positions in both Iraq and Syria.
The group has abducted and executed a number of US hostages, including US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Abdul Rahman (Peter) Kassig.
