The United States Department of State has offered multi-million dollar rewards for the capture of leaders of terrorist organizations based in West Africa. Conducted through the Rewards for Justice program, these particular ransoms mark a geographic first in the program’s nearly 30-year-old history.

Information leading to the whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Haram leader, will be rewarded with up to $7 million as indicated in a state department message.

The message also charged Boko Haram responsible for the August 2011 vehicle-bomb attack on a United Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria, which killed at least 23 people and injured 80.

Bounties of up to $5 million each are also being offered for information on Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader Yahya Abu el Hammam and Signed-in-Blood Battalion leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The rewards for AQIM leader Malik Abou Abdelkarim and Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) spokesperson Oumar Ould Hamaha  amount up to $3 million each.  

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(Photo: REUTERS/Sahara Media via Reuters TV)