US offers $45M reward to find al Qaeda leaders

The U.S. government is offering up to $45 million in reward money to help find the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The State Department announced the rewards on Tuesday, as part of its “Rewards for Justice” program.

{mosads}The largest potential reward is $10 million, which would be given out for information leading to the location of Nasir al-Wahishi — one of the group’s top leaders.

The State Department is also offering rewards for information to locate seven other figures in the group. Each of those rewards could amount to up to $5 million.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, has emerged in recent years as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups.

The group has been behind a number of high-profile plots including a failed 2009 effort to detonate a bomb aboard a Northwest Airlines flight.