Pakistan bounties for Swat leaders


A huge crater marked the spot of Wednesday's
blast in Lahore [AFP]

Pakistan has offered a cash reward of tens of thousands of dollars for the arrest of Maulana Fazlullah, the Islamic religious leader said to be behind of the Taliban's campaign in the Swat valley.

While a bounty of $62,000 was announced for Fazullah's capture, the government on Thursday also pledged varying rewards to all those who help in tracking down 20 other Taliban leaders.

The government list included Muslim Khan, the Swat Taliban spokesman.

"People providing authentic information leading to the capture - dead or alive - of these individuals will receive a cash reward," said an announcement published in leading newspapers, along with mugshots of those wanted.

Dead or alive

"Can the people who deprived mothers, sisters and daughters of their roofs and rendered them homeless in their own country be called Muslim and patriotic Pakistanis?" asked the advertisement.

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"Such people are indeed killers of humanity and deserve punishment. Please decide yourself and help the government bring them to justice."

Pakistan's military has intensified its campaign against Taliban fighters in the North West Frontier Province's Swat valley in recent weeks.

The announcement of the bounties comes a day after an attack in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore killed at least 30 people and injured over 200 others.

Wednesday's suicide bombing flattened a police building and damaged offices belonging to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's spy agency.

Prior to the explosion, a white van pulled up near the police station and the ISI office and two armed men opened fire, witnesses said, before the bomb was detonated.

A huge crater marked the spot of the blast, which Sajjad Bhutta, a provincial government official, said was caused by 100 kilogrammes of explosive.

'Taliban claim'

On Thursday, the Taliban in Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud, told The Associated Press news agency in a telephone call that the suicide attack "was in response to the Swat operation where innocent people have been killed".

A group calling itself Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab had earlier claimed responsibility for the bombing in a Turkish-language message posted on a Turkish website.

The group said the attack was related to the fight in Swat, according to the Site group, which monitors such websites.

The attack was the third in recent months on Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city, which sits well away from the restive Afghan border region where the Taliban have established strongholds.

Officials have been quick to link the attack to the military's campaign in Swat